Change Was All They Needed
by twinsRus
Summary: ABANDONED AU!post ootp Laurali from the US joins Harry in his 5th year hogwarts and then soon the important truth about her and Harry's past is discovered as a new teachers comes to teach.Will Hogwarts be better with all the changes she helps make?
1. 1Just the Beginning

Title: Change was all they Needed

Author: twinsRus87 (Lauren)

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Humor/Romance

Summary:

AU! post ootp Laurali from the US joins Harry in his 5th year hogwarts and then soon the important truth (about her and Harry's past) is discovered as a new teachers comes to teach.Will Hogwarts be better with all the changes she helps make?

AN: Hey! If you're reading this, then that would mean that you have decided to read my story! This is my first fanfic ever. I decided to write this because I spend a lot of time reading different fics so I figured that I would write one too.

I have to admit that I wasn't extremely impressed with J.K. Rowling's Order of the Phoenix, so this story takes place in Harry's 5th year. Although this is his 5th year, there will be ideas from Rowling's story. You might find some ideas similar, and in some cases, I will take excerpts from the original novel and place them here. But I do bold them, and I will point them out to you so no one thinks that I take the credit.

The character in this chapter, Laurali Richardson is the American transfer. My story basically takes place around her. For the first few chapters, the POV will change from Laurali to harry. That stops later on, and the POV is mostly in Laurali's.

One thing that I would also like to say is that I have _always _had trouble with writing POV's, so for the first few chapters that are not BETA-ed, you may notice a difference. For this, I am sorry, but believe me when I say that I am working on it.

Now I have to warn you that I am an extremely strong writer, so you'll have to bear with me. And, to make some sort of a defense, WORD likes to change things without my consent. If you notice any grammar mistakes or anything that you find confusing, please point them out to me in a REVIEW so that I would modify that.

This chapter, is just a sort of background chapter, if you will, it introduces Laurali (AKA LAUR). It says some of the things that she likes to do, where she lives, etc.

Now, we have the first chapter, Just the Beginning. And REMEMBER TO REVIEW!

Chapter 1: Just the Beginning

Harry Potter woke up suddenly. He was having a reoccurring dream, well, no; we wouldn't call it a dream. For it actually happened. He was having a dreadful event replay in his mind. One that Harry knows will make a big difference in the Wizarding world.

This event occurred just a couple of months ago, on June 24, at the Triwizard Tournament.

Harry had witnessed a classmate, Cedric Diggory be murdered. And then not long after that, he was forced to be involved with the rebirth of Lord Voldemort. Voldemort, or Tom Riddle actually, was an ugly, egotistical moron who wants to kill Harry. This ugly moron calls it revenge. Harry calls it a living pain in the ass. Anything and everything bad always happens to him, past, present, and future.

Rita Skeeter, enjoyed writing false articles about Harry and then letting the entire Wizarding world read them. The Slytherins, the students who were most likely associated with Voldemort, and the Hufflepuffs for a short time last year loved to quote the articles and give Harry a hard time about all of it.

His parents were dead, so Harry lived with his very-muggle like aunt and uncle, and their son Dudley. These people love making Harry's life a living hell as well. At least he didn't have to live with them most of the time. Just only in Harry's 3rd year at Hogwarts, he discovered that he had a godfather, Sirius Black. But poor Sirius, a wrongfully accused convict, couldn't be free for Harry to live with him.

Of all these bad things that happened to Harry, there are some good. Harry has two great friends. Ron and Hermione. They always tried to help Harry in the best way possible. They also get in trouble together a lot, which means detention. Some of the things they have done weren't their fault in the past, other times it was. I guess that's how it goes. Professor Dumbledore was like Harry's grandfather. He's always looking out for Harry, and was the only person to believe him about Sirius' innocence.

Dumbledore was very trustworthy, which is always a good quality.

Now back to this awful "dream". Harry is awoken, and he is feeling depressed and pissed off.

Glancing at his alarm clock, which read 6:30a.m. He gets out of bed and starts to get dressed.

"Great. You'd think that I'd be able to sleep but no. I mean, it's only my summer vacation, and I'm at Hogwarts," Harry angrily said before grabbing his Firebolt. "I'm going down flying Hedwig, I'll be back later." Hedwig was his pet owl, which was given to Harry by Hagrid on his 11th birthday.

In Massachusetts, USA

"What-the-fuck-is-that-beeping-noise??" Laurali said, rather annoyed. She threw her covers over her head trying to get in position to stifle the noise. Deciding that nothing can be down she runs into her brother Jay's room and finds his alarm clock making that awful beeping noise.

'How the hell can he sleep through that?'She thinks. 'Too bad I don't have a sledgehammer. That would stop it' she smirks suddenly, as if really thinking about finding the tool and smashing the clock in to pieces. But knowing how much trouble she'd be in, she just slams the SNOOZE button, and then turns off the alarm so it won't start again.

Knowing that she wont be able to fall back to sleep, she grabs a blanket off her bed and goes downstairs to the living room to watch TV.

"Nothing on… Nothing…"she mumbled flipping through the channels. 'Well of course nothing is on, its only 7 am, and not even the little kids are up yet. I'll just have to watch a movie,' she thinks.'But not before I get some food.'

Sitting down with buttermilk waffles, some ham and grapes, she presses the play button on her VCR to watch Beauty and the Beast.

Laurali, was an American muggleborn teenage witch who lived in Massachusetts. She currently was spending her summer vacation swimming, hanging out with her muggle friends, and babysitting. The school she went to was in Salem, Mass. the Salem Witch's Institute, only about 20 minutes from her home. It wasn't an overnight school, so she lived at home. She did have friends there, but they were all vacationing out of the country. But she didn't go on many vacations far away, just mainly to the beach and to Rhode Island for the weekends.

Her hobbies included music, movies, dance, and bowling.

Without music in her life, she felt like she'd die. It was that important to her. Her favorite movie from that summer was Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Everybody likes to dance, which is her opinion. She took classes at a nearby dance studio to study the classics. Ballets, pointe, jazz and lyrical, were her dances of choice. Tap dances in her opinion are fun to watch, but not to dance in. And although she wasn't very gifted in bowling, she loved going to bowl anyways.


	2. 2A Talk

AN: I got Reviews! I'm so excited! Okay, sorry, I'm a little over enthusiastic right now. I promised another chapter yesterday, so I intend on keeping that promise. Right now, I'm listening to my favorite music so hopefully that will have an influence on how well I write. So here is the next chapter:

Chapter 2. A Talk

Laurali's mother, Samantha, came down stairs to find her daughter sound asleep on the couch with Beauty and the Beast playing in the background with a plate of grape vines.

"Did you sleep down here all night?" Samantha asks Laurali as soon as she was awake. "No. I'll give you one guess," Laurali asked groggily.

"Okay, since I only get one, ill have to make this one count. Lemme guess, Jay's alarm clock again?"

"We have a winner!" Laurali says while rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I still can't tell how it wakes me up and I'm 3 rooms down!"

"Yeah, well. He's a very sound sleeper."

"Hey Mom?" Laurali asks.

"Uh huh?" was the reply, Samantha was currently reading one of her favorite novels.

"I was thinking-" "You were thinking? Well that's something new!"

"As I was saying before I was RUDELY interrupted- I was thinking, can I transfer schools?"

"What? Where? Why?" Now that she was paying attention to her daughter, she began to feel worried that her daughter would leave, become an old lady and never come home.

"To Hogwarts. It's in Europe. I think in Scotland." Laurali answered.

"That's really far honey," Samantha states.

"Well yes I know that. I've always wanted to see what it would be like to go to a real Wizarding school. And-"

"You do go to a real Wizarding school. Why do you think you go to Salem all the time?" Samantha interrupts. (Samantha was a muggle, so she didn't understand a lot about the wizarding world.)

"Well at Salem, we learn the wizarding things AND muggle things. Why would I need to learn about the Muggle American history and English? Yeah, I know how to speak, and I can write descent essays. What's the point of knowing independent and dependent clauses? And all that other grammar crap that I could care less about?" Laurali explained.

"Well, your teachers want to make sure that you know enough about my world, so you will be able to do more than just a wizarding education. I think it's important," Samantha said.

"Yeah well that's great. Mom, I'm 15, and I'm gonna be in my 5th year at Salem. I've already had a 'normal' education. You had me go to the local elementary middle school in case I wasn't accepted. Remember?"

"Yes. Of course I remember that. How could I ever forget," Samantha mumbled.

"Yep, see? I want and I feel like I need a full wizarding education now. And I could get that at Hogwarts. And I've already been accepted there. I think I still have the acceptance letter upstairs in my safe just in case I ever wanted to transfer."

"Well you are making logic, I suppose. But we'll have to talk to your father about this. And if he agrees, then we'll send the Headmaster a letter. But Scotland/England is extremely far away. You'd be so homesick. And we'll all miss you here."

"Yeah, I know. I'll just have to come home for Christmas break and write lots of letters," Laurali stated.

"Hey. I just thought of something. They're probably not gonna let you bring a TV and VCR with you, and the food will be different."

"I never really thought of that. hmm. Well, I'll just have to bring some American things into Hogwarts and for the food, well I'll make friends with the cooks. Maybe they'll understand. I'm sure they wont be offended or anything. Right?" Laurali asked, thinking back to the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movie when they were in France and the chefs were offended that they wanted hamburgers.

"Good luck with that one. They could be offended; they'll think you don't like their cooking. I've only been to France. I asked one time at a restaurant for un hamburger avec fromage et des frites (A/N: A cheeseburger and some fries). The waitress gave me a look. Maybe she was insulted. I don't know. But you know it could be just because they are French." Samantha replies.

"Yes, but that's because you were in France, not Scotland/ Britain. Anyways, their food can't be too different."

"Well, let's wait for your father to come down to think about this any further."

"Okay," Laurali agreed and started watching Beauty and the Beast some more.

A/N: Well, another chapter finished. I hope you didn't mind that I didn't put anything about Harry in this chapter. The next one will be all about him. I promise!! Thanks to those people who reviewed!

Disclaimer: The Ashley and Mary Kate Olsen movie I referred to was "Passport to Paris".


	3. 3The Truth pt 1

AN: In this chapter, I am putting a lot of excerpts, from Order of the Phoenix.

Things written in **BOLD** are from OoTP directly. If you find that there is a few words in the sentences containing parts from OoTp, its because I had to modify whatever it was.

Chapter 3. The Truth comes out (Pt.1)

Harry, who had been flying for over the past hour, didn't notice when Professor Dumbledore walked into the quidditch field and sat down on one of the bleachers. He must have been watching for some time when Harry jumped back about a foot and took out his wand directly as he landed.

"God, Professor, you scared me," Harry says while breathing in and out.

"My apologies, Harry. That wasn't my intention," Dumbledore replies with a sparkle in his blue eyes.

"Is it time for our meeting yet?"

"No. You have about an hour. Why don't you go up to Gryffindor tower and change. Meet me in my office in an hour. The password is 'Shock Tarts'."

"Thank you Professor," Harry said. 'What the hell are shock tarts?' He thought as he was retreating back to the castle.

"It's a Muggle candy. I think most commonly from America," Dumbledore called out to Harry as he sat down in a bleacher.

'How did he know?' Harry pondered while turning away again.

Harry had only been at his aunt and uncle's home a week when a brown-tawny owl delivered him a letter.

While running upstairs to his room to read his letter alone (Dudley, his overgrown cousin has a tendency to rip the letters from Harry's hands and run away with them.

__

"Dear Harry,

I hope that you are doing well. It had come to my attention that you are in dire need of an explanation. I wish to explain everything I can to you before the term starts. There are things that I should have told you years ago, but I have yet to tell you.

I have talked with Mr. Weasley. We have both decided that until you come to Hogwarts for our meeting, you will be safe at the Burrow. I understand that Hermione will also be coming for a visit as well. I hope you enjoy yourself.

Mr. Weasley will pick you up at 4 Privet Drive, Surrey England via car this coming Wednesday at 2 pm.

Yours,

Professor Albus Dumbledore"

Just after reading his letter from Dumbledore, he received one from Ron.

"Hey Harry,

How's your summer going so far? No Quidditch World Cup this year. Ah well, we'll find something else to do.

Dad told us today that you're gonna stay with us for a while. That's great! I guess Hermione is also coming for a visit. Its kind of strange how my parents are the ones who are organizing for you and Hermione to come over. But I'm not complaining.

Hope to see you soon,

Ron"

Harry didn't even realize how fast time could go by, because soon, he was walking himself up to the stone gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office.

"Shock Tarts" Harry said and took a step back before walking up the winding staircase to the Headmasters' office.

"Hello Harry," Dumbledore said as Harry entered, and motioned for Harry to take a seat in one of the comfortable chairs in front of his desk.

"Hiya," said Harry before sitting down.

"Now I'm sure you are gonna have questions, so I ask that you hold them until I am finished," Dumbledore said. Harry nodded his head in understanding, and watched his elder very closely.

"I'm sure you've been asking yourself what could possibly be so important for me to ask you come back to school so soon," he watched Harry nod his head once again. "Well," Dumbledore pauses to readjust his glasses, but must finds that they're dirty or scratched because he takes up his wand and says, "_Reparo._ Well, here I go:

****

On a cold, wet night about 15 years **ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog's Head Inn. I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher, though it was against my inclination to allow the subject of Divination to continue at all. The applicant, however, was the great great granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer, and I thought it common politeness to meet her. I was disappointed. It seemed to me that she had not a trace of the gift herself. I told her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable for the post. I turned to leave."**

This made Harry think, of his current Divination teacher, Sibyll Trelawney; a woman who loved to predict Harry's death, and to Harry, looked like an overgrown fly.

Harry thought back to Dumbledore's office to see him take out a basin with a silvery substance in it. It was Dumbledore's Pensieve.

****

A figure rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to enormous size behind her glasses, and she revolved slowly, her feet in the basin. But when Sibyll Trelawney spoke, it was not her usual ethereal, mystic voice, but in a harsh, hoarse tones Harry had her use once before.

With this, Harry thought back to that hot day in her classroom as Harry was taking his end of year exam at the end of third year. It was the day that Harry had found out the truth about Sirius, and the night his parents died.

Realizing that this would be important, he stopped starring and looked at the figure out of the basin.

****

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"

****

The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished.

****

"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry said very quietly, for Dumbledore, still staring at the Pensieve, seemed completely lost in thought. "It…did that mean…What did that mean?"

****

"It meant," said Dumbledore, "that the person who has the only chance of conquering Lord Voldemort for good was born at the end of July, nearly sixteen years ago. This boy would be born to parents who had already defied Voldemort three times."

****

"It means-me?"

****

"The odd thing is, Harry," he said softly, "that it may not have meant you at all. Sibyll's prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, both born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other was Neville Longbottom."

"So then, why am I the one who Voldemort wants dead?" Harry asks. His head was spinning with new information; he was trying to make sure he understood everything perfectly.

****

"You are forgetting the next part of the prophecy, the final identifying feature of the boy who could vanquish Voldemort…. Voldemort himself would 'mark him as his equal.' And so he did, Harry. He chose you, not Neville. He gave you the scar that has proved both blessing and curse.

****

"He chose the boy he thought most likely to be a danger to him," said "Dumbledore. "And notice this, Harry. He chose, not the pureblood (which according to his creed, is the only kind of wizard worth being or knowing), but the half-blood, like himself. He saw himself in you before he had ever seen you, and in marking you with that scar, he did not kill you, as he intended, be gave you powers, and a future, which have fitted you to escape him not once, but three** times so far-something that neither your parents, nor Neville's parents ever achieved."**

Harry went back to the common room not long after that. Dumbledore decided that he would tell Harry everything else the next day.

"Why don't you sleep on it. That way you can ask me any questions tomorrow. I'm gonna have a good surprise for you. One that I think you'll enjoy. Good night," Dumbledore had said to him while Harry was leaving for the door.

A/N: okay, another chapter done. This is the longest by far. I hope you're not too disappointed that Dumbledore didn't tell Harry everything. There's a surprise tomorrow!

BYE! REVIEW!! DON'T FORGET!!!!!

If any of you are wondering where I got Shock Tarts from its because when I was writing it, that's what I was eating at the time.

Thanks! Lauren


	4. 4A pleasant Surprise

Chapter 4. The Surprise Visit

Harry was in the Gryffindor Common Room doing nothing at all. There was no one else in the castle. Well there was Dumbledore but he was much to busy, and its not that hanging out with the Headmaster wasn't entertaining; it just wasn't Harry's idea as fun.

When the Fat Lady's portrait opened, Harry jumped up and thought the worse. But what he got was about as good as playing Quidditch; just about.

"Sirius!" Harry exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, Hello to you too Harry," Sirius joked. "Dumbledore sent me an owl explaining that you were here. I figured I could be of some company."

"Yeah, that's for sure. I am completely bored. It's not that I don't love being here in the castle, it's just so much better having Ron and Hermione and everyone else here. It's not the same. "

"Yeah. I know what you mean. Being on the loose does get lonely, so I'm here. I can't get caught being here if it's just you and Dumbledore right?" He paused. "My point exactly, thanks Harry," he said while rolling his tired blue eyes.

"What about the House Elves? There's a psychotic one down there; she's drunk and crying all the time."

"The House Elves wouldn't care who I was, as long as they could serve me, that's how they are. Haven't you learned that? All the time when we snuck down in to the Kitchens, me and your father Harry, none of them cared about who we were as long as they could please us. Pleasing us, pleases them. "

"That not what Hermione thinks at all. Do you remember when we visited you in the cave last year? She won't understand, I wonder if she'll continue her _spew_ stuff again next year."

"Yeah I remember that. Anyways, I'm not here to talk about house elves and worrying about getting caught. Let's do something fun," Sirius decided.

Silence commenced among the two.

"Yeah, this is fun," Harry murmured.

"Hey Sirius? Do you remember my photo album?"

Sirius' eyes lit up and had a sad look to them at the same time. "Yes, I do. We put that together, your parents and I before we casted the fidelius spell. Why? Do you have it?"

"Yeah. It's upstairs. Hagrid gave it to me in my 1st year. Do you think we could look at it together?"

"That's a great idea. But after we get something to eat. I'm starving," Sirius announced.

"Ugh, Sirius, you're always hungry," Harry said laughing.

"Well, ya, I guess that's true," he agreed laughing.

"Do you have the Marauders Map Harry?"

"No. Dumbledore has it. He's had it ever since the 3rd task. I can't believe I forgot all about it! " Harry said while shaking his head in a disapproving manor.

"You can ask him for it tomorrow," Sirius said while pushing the portrait open.

"Harry Potter sir has come to visit Dobby!" exclaimed a voice with a squeak as Harry and Sirius steped into the kitchens.

"Hey Dobby. Dobby, this is Sirius, my godfather. Sirius, this is Dobby, he used to work for the Malfoys. So how are you Dobby?" Harry asked.

"Dobby is good sir! Look!" the elf says pointing to his feet, "Dobby is wearing the socks Harry Potter gave him!"

"That's great. Dobby, do you think you could get us some food? I'm a little on the hungry side," Sirius interrupted

"Of course Sirius sir! Would you be wanting ham, chicken or beef?" Dobby asked bouncing from one foot to the other.

"How about…. Hmm…Harry? Which do you want?"

"How 'bout ham?"

"Okay, Harry would like ham, and I would like all of them please."

Dobby ran towards the other end of the kitchen with a quick bow to get their food.

"A little hungry Sirius?" Harry joked

"Yeah. Just a little bit."

"Here you goes Sir. Dobby got you some other food too," said Dobby as soon as he came back.

"Thank you, very much," Sirius said with an accent.

"Thanks Dobby! I'll come visit again before I leave for the rest of the summer!" Harry said.

"Thank you Harry Potter sir! You are so kind to Dobby!" the mini dude said again. (A/N: I just had to put it. : D )

****

half hour later

"Well that was good. I haven't had a real descent meal since before… well let's just say a long time," Sirius said with a sigh.

"Yeah. Did I ever tell you how I know Dobby so well?" Harry asked.

"There's a story to go with it? I just figured that you knew him so well from going down to the kitchens often," Sirius said with a shrug. "But this has got to be interesting, so talk."

"How often were you at the kitchens?"

"Oh, not too often. Just like a few times a week."

Harry's jaw dropped. "We only go down there a few times a _month_. And a few of those times they hushed us out the door because of Hermione with her _spew_ stuff.

"Okay, so it was back in my second year here, well about to start. I think it was my birthday, I dunno, I'm not positive. But my Uncle, you know, the big beefy guy. He was having dinner guests over; and I of course wasn't invited. But like I wanted to. Anyways, I was going upstairs where my little bedroom was, and there he was, jumping on my bed. That was the first time I ever saw a house elf so, umm ya, it was quite interesting," Harry explained.

"He-was-jumping-on-your-bed?" Sirius asked. "I have got to see me a house elf jump on a bed before I die! That would be so funny! With their big ears flopping everywhere. HAHA"

Sirius' laughs must have been contagious, because the next minute, Harry was laughing as well. Especially since he's seen the big ears flopping everywhere.

"Why don't you get the photo album Harry? I'll start a fire," Sirius said as he calmed down.

"Hey, Look! There are more pictures than the last time I looked at it!" Sirius exclaimed as he and Harry opened up the book.

"Hagrid must have put them in there. He told me that he sent owls to my mom and dads old school friends asking them for pictures," Harry told him.

"Oh look at this one! I looked so little! Look at your father, damn you two look alike. Anyways, this one was at your father's 11th birthday party. We were at a Quidditch game. That's where we met Remus."

"And this was the picture that Greg Creevey begged us to let him take. That kid always had a camera with him," Sirius continued laughing.

"Greg Creevey? There's two Gryffindors with the name of Creevey. Collin and Dennis. And Collin always has a camera! That kid is obsessed with me. But I always thought that they were muggle born. At least, that's what Collin said during his first year. Do you think it's possible they are related?"

"It's definately possible. I mean, c'mon, how many crazy kids can there be with the name of Creevey?" Sirius said while laughing.

"God! I don't even want to think about it!"

Harry went to bed that night feeling better than he has in a long time. Sirius told him that he was staying as well. But only for a few days, until Harry goes back to the Dursleys.

A/N: I decided to have this chapter now, instead of later because I felt like there should be some humor!!

I thought that the entire Dobby, ear thing was funny! I don't know if that could actually happen, but it can for my story!

Remus and Sirius are my favorite characters so they have to be in here somewhere! We'll get back to Laurali in the next chapter.

Keep reading and Reviewing! Thanks! Lauren


	5. 5The Truth Pt2

A/N: I'm so sorry about this!! It didn't want to be bold so I tried fixing it the next day, but then it didn't work, so I'm trying it again! Lets hope it works!  
  


 Well, when I first put this up the first time, it was right after Halloween, this time, its right after Veteran's day. So HAPPY VETERANS DAY! I hope u thought about our fallen!

  
  


Disclaimer: Again, if any of these characters yourecognize, that would be because JK invented them, and I'm just adding to their story. However, the plots, and other characters you may not recognize, are mine.  
  


  
And if you noticed, I changed the type of story this will be. I decided to make it into a romantic comedy. Hopefully more comedy than romance, but we'll see how I do. 

  
  
Anything in **BOLD**, is from OoTP _directly_. Remember that!   
  
  
  
And remember to REVIEW!  
  


  
            *~~~ Chapter 5. The Truth (pt2)~~~*  
  


      When Harry woke up the next day, he was excited that Sirius was in the castle, visiting him. He kept looking at his photo album thinking back to the night before when he and Sirius stayed up for hours looking at the book.   
  
After a while, his excitement wore off as he remembered that he was supposed to go back to Dumbledore's office to talk some more.   
  
After eating a delicious breakfast of grits (A: N: I think they eat those in England. If I'm wrong, let me know!), pancakes and pumpkin juice. After breakfast, he found himself taking a stroll through to the castle corridors look at all the scenery he usually would not have been able to see, because of rushing to classes. He first noticed some portraits of famous witches or wizards that he's never seen before, but have of course heard of. It was the portrait of the Four Founders. Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw. Their pictures were not moving, they appeared to be ordinary Muggle photos.   
  
"That's strange, they aren't moving." Harry thought.   
  
'That would be because this was taken before moving pictures were invented." Said a voice from behind Harry.  
  
"Professor! You have a habit of sneaking up on me when I least expect it." Harry said, sighing.  
  
"Yes, I get that a lot." Dumbledore said with a hint of amusement on his face, but then turned serious. "Are you ready for our discussion today?"  
  
"I suppose." Harry sighs while shaking his shoulders up and down.  
  
"Okay, well let's go to my office." He replies while turning to leave through a wall.  
  
"Sir! That would be a wall!"   
  
"Yes, thank you Harry." Dumbledore says while chuckling.  
  
"Well, you're not dead. How are you supposed to walk through the wall?" Harry questions.  
  
"Like this. I put one foot in front of the other." He instructs as if talking to a child, with glimmering eyes. "And you are walking! What an amazing thing!"   
  
"Professor, thank you for the instruction, but the wall is solid. We are solid. Solid things can't normally walk through solid objects."  
  
"You just said it. 'You can't _normally_ walk through a solid object.' You see, we are doing the 'un normal thing' and walking through the wall. It's a portal, to my office." He says as walking through the "wall". "But I have to be present in order for this to work." Dumbledore adds.   
  
"I see." Harry says, while putting one foot in front of the other.  
  
"Not too many students know of this hallway. How did you come across it?" Dumbledore asks.  
  
" I was taking a walk and I ended up here. Do any of the teachers know about it?"   
  
"Well, yes, some of the professors know of this hallway, but only the Deputy Headmistress knows of this portal."  
  
"I see."  
  
                                  ~~~~  
  
"Okay, now that we are in my office," Dumbledore says as he was opening a hidden door into his office, " We will continue from where we left off from the other day."  
  
"Alright, but I have a question." Harry says, taking a pause for Dumbledore to interrupt him, and sees him gives an "approving nod". (A: N: That's what me and friend call them!) "Why didn't you tell me all of this stuff when I first came here?"  
  
"That would be my flaw. Here are my crazy excuses that I hope you will understand. **Eleven, I told myself, was much too young to know. I have never intended to tell you when you were eleven. The knowledge would be too much at such a young age.   
  
"I should have recognized the danger sign then. I should have asked myself why I did not feel more disturbed that you had already asked the question I knew, one day, I must give a terrible answer. I should have recognized that I was too happy to think that I did not have to do it on that particular day... You were too young, much too young.** Do you remember what day I am talking about?  
  
  
  
"Yeah. That day was in my first year right after the sorcerer's stone business. I remember I asked you why Voldemort wanted me dead. And you told me you couldn't tell me."  
  
"Exactly. **And so we entered your second year at Hogwarts. And once again you met challenges even grown wizards have never faced. You did not ask me again, however, why Voldemort had left that mark upon you. We discussed your scar, oh yes... We came very, very close to the subject. Why did I not tell you everything?  
  
"Well, it seemed to me that twelve was, after all, hardly better than eleven to receive such information. You were still so young, you see, and I could not find it in me to spoil that night in triumph....  
  
"Do you see Harry? Do you see the flaw in my brilliant plan now? I had fallen into the trap I had foreseen, that I had told myself I could avoid. I cared about you too much." **Dumbledore said simply.** "I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed.   
  
"We entered your third year. I watched from afar as you struggled to repel dementors, as you found Sirius, learned what he was and rescued him.** Oh! And speaking of Sirius! He was the surprise that I promised you the other day!"  
  
  
  
"Yes I know. He came to the Gryffindor common room yesterday not long after our meeting. We just hung out." Harry said. He was starting to get mad at Dumbledore, because of all the secrets that were kept from him. But none-the-less, Harry hated yelling at Dumbledore. So he kept his mouth shut so he could yell later, without having the consequences of someone hearing him.   
  
"And so, we continued to your fourth year. Why didn't I tell you then? And again after you were forced to witness Voldemort's rebirthing ceremony. You nearly escaped death. Why didn't I tell you after you told me all of the happenings in the maze and graveyard?  
  
**"My only defense is this: I have watched you struggling under more burdens than any student who has ever passed through this school, and I could not bring myself to add another-the greatest one of all."** Dumbledore stopped here, briefly, allowing Harry to digest all of this new information, the room was dead silent, and not even Fawkes or any of the portraits on the wall said anything.  
  
"Are you talking about the prophecy now?" Harry says, breaking the silence.  
  
"Yes Harry, I am." -Sighs- "I felt that if I let you know of the prophecy at a younger age, say when you first entered Hogwarts; I feared that you would have another load on your shoulders, so to speak.  
  
"You had just acknowledged that you were a wizard. You learned of the true reason for your parents' death. And just to make matters even worse, you are a celebrity; I couldn't add this. I cared too much about you."  
  
"Ah, well that's _nice_." Harry interrupts sarcastically- " If you don't mind me asking, if you cared _so much_ about me, then why did you make me live with my aunt and uncle? They _always_ hated me, and still do. They only gave me a real bedroom after I got my second or third Hogwarts letters."  
  
"I'm glad you asked me that. That was the next thing I was going to explain to you. Why you need to live with your aunt and uncle. I thought you might have been wondering.   
  
**"Why could some Wizarding family not have taken you in? Many would have done so more than gladly, would have been honored and delighted to raise you as a son.  
  
"My answer is that my priority was to keep you alive. You were in more danger than perhaps anyone but myself realized. Voldemort has been vanquished hours before, but his supporters-and many of the, are almost as terrible as he- were still at large, angry, desperate, and violent. And I had to make my decision too with regard to the years ahead. I was sure, knowing him as I have done, that he would not rest until he killed you.   
  
" I know that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is perhaps more extensive than any wizard alive. I know that even my most complex and powerful protective spells and charms were unlikely to be invincible if he ever returned to full power.   
  
"But I knew too where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he always, therefore, underestimated to his cost. I am speaking of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative.**  
  
" Now, I know your aunt may not love you. But that doesn't matter. She did take you in. That is what does matter." Dumbledore said this last part rushed in order to prevent Harry interrupting, but also slow and loud enough so Harry could understand.  
  
** "She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the blood the strongest shield I could give you.  
  
"While you can still call home the place where your mothers blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. She knows that allowing you houseroom may have kept you alive for the past **fourteen** years."  
**  
"I think I understand. But could I still stay at the Burrow for the last few weeks of the summer before school starts? I usually do." Harry asks after so long of listening. He wanted to go back to the Weasley's, he had had so much fun there in the past. And, it would only be a few weeks, four at the most.   
  
" I would think it would be safe for you. I would have to contact Mr. and Mrs. Weasley first of course. I need to talk to them about other things anyways.  
  
A/N: Well there's the chapter. I hope you liked it. Not too bad I hope.   
  
The next chapter may be up within the weekend. It's all written, I just need to type it, so we'll see when I get the time to do that.  
  


**REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!**

Luv u all! ~Lauren


	6. 6Over Chocolate Cake

A/N: I just wanted to apologize again for the issues that I had with the last chapter. If you read it as it was before I managed to get it bold, I didn't change much, just some minor words, and so here's the next chapter! I hope you like it!

            Do you remember Laurali? She's back!

I think that I'm done with the direct OotP quotes, so lets see how we do with the formatting! ~Lauren

***~~~ Chapter 6. Over Chocolate Cake~~~***

            "He said okay!" on overly excited girl screams.

            "My Dad! He said that it would be okay if I owled Professor Dumbledore!"-pause- "DANIELLE! You can be so slow!" She yells again, murmuring she says, "_And I thought _I_ was the slow one."_

            Laurali, who was apparently (A/N:I SPELLED IT WRONG AGAIN LISA! LOL thank goodness for spell check!) on a telephone, was talking to her best friend Danielle.

            "Don't remind me about raisins!" (A/N: Inside joke, sorry!) the young teen says during outbreaks of laughter.

            "Anyways, back to what I was talking about, I might be able to go to Hogwarts!

            "Well, I have to owl the headmaster Professor Dumbledore. -- _YES, he was the dude who defeated Grindywald or some dark person like that.  _Well, I got a letter from the school when I was eleven. - Well maybe that's because you're not special enough. Yeah, so I got a letter then, but I want to leave Salem. You know how I've always wanted to go to England, Scotland, Ireland, wherever it is. And this may be my chance! I'm sending an owl tomorrow. Why then? Because I haven't figured out the time difference yet, if there is one. I wouldn't want to wake him up or anything. 

"Anyways, so I heard…"

~ ~ ~ ~

        _Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,_

_My name is Laurali Richardson. I am a 15-year-old Muggle-born American witch.  I was accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when I was 11. I previously have been attending the Salem Witch Institute in Salem, Massachusetts, and I decided that it was time for a change._

_            I wish to attend Hogwarts in the next new school year. If this were at all possible, you would have made me one of the happiest girls ever!_

_                                                                                                            Sincerely,_

Laurali Richardson 

* * * *

            "How could he have not told me? Screw all of his 'I cared for you' bullshit!" Harry was yelling at no one. Well that's what he thought. His bedroom mirror decided to tell him to stop screaming, as he could wake all of Europe.

            "Aye! Young man!" said Larry the mirror. The boys have named all of the objects in their room back in their first year when they were extremely bored.

            "Didn't know that your mirror could talk to you, did you?' Larry says to Harry, as Harry's mouth was open in shock. Not once in all of his years at Hogwarts did anyone tell him his mirror could yell at him.

            "Well, just to let you know, you're giving me a headache!"

"**BLADDY BLAH! BLAH BLAH BLAH!  THIS IS THE SONG THAT NEVER ENDS! YES IT GOES ON AND ON MY FRIENDS! SOME PEOPLE, STARTED SINGING IT NOT KNOWING WHAT IT WAS AND THEY'LL KEEP SINGING IT FOREVER. JUST BECAUSE THIS IS THE SONG**…"Harry yelled (A/N: Do any of you remember Lamb Chops Play Along? That's where it's from.)

"Yelling at no one (or so you thought,) won't help you at all! So do what other boys do when they're as angry as you." Larry said as Harry stopped to get a breath.

            "Yeah and what would that be? Go cry to their mommies?" Harry snapped.

"NO. Shutting up is first, and then go flying!" The mirror said, rather forcefully, if you ask me.

"Whatever" Harry says while grabbing his cloak and turning out the door.

~ ~ ~ ~

An old man, with blue eyes and long white hair sighed, while putting his face in his hands."

            "I feel awful Fawkes." He says to a great red and golden bird. "Now he's singing the Lamb Chops Play along song! But, I'll just get some hot chocolate." He said before looking down at this desk and seeing a white, Muggle envelope.

            "Yes Miss Richardson…uh huh…" He says while reading the contents of the letter.

"Fawkes, how would you feel about having an American witch come join our students?" He asks his bird wisely. Some would say he's crazy, but in reality, he's extremely intelligent, and trusts the bird with all his life. Who, at the moment was nodding his head.

            "I think so too. Alright Miss Richardson…"

* * * *

            Laurali was lying on her bed, with her feet hanging off the side. She was reading her favorite Muggle magazine, "Seventeen" while listening to music. She loved listening to all of her ol' school cds as much as her new cds.

            Her "Soul for Real: Candy Rain" cd was currently playing "If you want it".

If you want it 

_You can have it_

_Came and get it_

_And ill be waiting (2x)_

_In all my days, _

_I never met anybody like you_

_who makes me feel so good_

_And I'm telling you with all my will_

_So if you want it come and get it_

_Its for real_

_~ ~ ~ ~_

"Hello. Would you want some chocolate cake?" Someone says.

"Yeah! Thanks Mamaduke." Laurali says, while taking a plate full of chocolate cake.

            "So Laurali, an owl showed up like 10 minutes ago-"

            "An owl, nice. Wait! An OWL!? Wicked COOL! Lemme guess, it had a letter!" She guesses.

            "Yeah. It scared the crap out of me. Anyways, its still here, I think it's on the back porch drinking water out of the dogs' dish." Samantha says. 

(A/n: Do you remember in Ch. 2 that we decided to call her Mom Samantha? Well, I just reminded you.)

"Where is the letter?" Laurali says while jumping out of her chair with a mouth full of cake.

"It's next to the stove. So where did this owl come from?" 

"I can't believe you put it next to the stove! It could catch fire! Or someone could spill something on it!" the young teen exclaims while walking to the stove.

"It would have come from Europe. The witches and wizards use owls as their way of sending letters and what not. They don't here because this is America and there aren't as many Wizarding towns. So I guess that the first magical people here would just use the Muggle post –mail boxes and mailmen instead of owls.  Well that's what I thought Mrs. Mirada had said, I dunno." Mrs. Mirada was Laurali's history teacher at Salem. She taught both Muggle history and Wizardry history.

"I got a letter-" Laurali sang; now she was on a sugar rush and getting a letter from Europe was exciting as well. "From Professor Dumbledore! Listen to this Mama!

"Dear Miss Richardson,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 "I GOT IN! YAY!! I GOT ACCEPTED!" Laurali broke off singing, before continuing. "Oh, wait, there's more, listen:

 "You will find an enclosed list of all of your necessary clothing and equipment. In order to know what books you will need for the upcoming year, you will need to take a harmless little placement exam.  Please arrange to be at Diagon Alley for August 1st, at 2 pm. Please be at the Leaky Cauldron.   There I will meet with you and we will test your abilities. I would strongly suggest that you use Floo Powder, I am sure that you can find some in Salem.

            The first term begins on September 1st. If you have any questions, please ask them in August.

                                                                                                Yours Sincerely,

                                                                                                Albus Dumbledore,

                                                                                                Headmaster of Hogwarts "

She finished reading the letter aloud to her mother and read it again to herself silently. 

"I'm going to Hogwarts! I'm going to Hogwarts!" Laurali sang while dancing around her kitchen in pajamas.

            "That's great honey, now go pack for the beach. We're leaving for Newport, Rhode Island tomorrow morning at 9 am." Samantha says.

            "Yeah sure Mama! I'm going to Hogwarts! I'm going to the Beach!" Laurali sang as going up the stairs.

Laurali was so excited that she didn't notice the tears form up in her mothers' eyes.

            " I'm losing my baby." Samantha cries to herself before putting the dishes in the dishwasher and heading upstairs after Laurali.

A/N: Oh no! Samantha's upset Laurali's going to Hogwarts, we'll see everything in Newport goes next.

Do you guys remember the Lamb chop song? HAHA. My brother kept singing it like a week or two ago so I decided to use it.  

Did you like the mirror thing?  I thought it added a nice little touch. Someone had to tell Harry to calm down. Anyways.

What's with Harry? How does Dumbledore know everything going on?

If you're wondering why I chose Newport RI as her vacationing place, that's because that's where I always go.  I've lived in Central Mass my entire life and I've never been to Cape Cod. I've always gone to Jamestown/Newport RI.

            I'm sure you're all wondering who Soul 4 Real is.  They're an R&B, soul boy group from early 1990's.   I've been in love with "Candy Rain" for the last year and a half. Their CD's aren't made anymore *sniffles* but that's okay. 

I'll try to post the next chapter within in the next week. I think my teachers won't be so harsh anymore… well let's hope. 

REMEMBER TO REVIEW! Negative, positive. I want to hear it all!!

Luv u all, ~Lauren


	7. 7A Never Ending Summer

A/N: HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY! So o did u guys all eat a lot? Yeah, me too. I feel like I gained 5 pounds, but anyways.

            Sorry this took so long to get out. I was really busy with homework, dance, school, blah blah. So without further ado, here's the chapter.

***~~~Chapter 7: A Never Ending Summer~~~***

          Harry was planning on going back to the Dursley's until right after his birthday, and then spend the summer with Ron and the rest of the Weasley's. As of right now, the young overly stressed teen was packing his belongings into his trunk.

            " I want to get away from here, but I don't want to go back to the Dursley's or see Ron right now." Harry thought while throwing a t-shirt into his trunk. "At the Dursley's I'll have to deal with Dudley, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, and of course act as their slave. At Ron's, I wont have to worry about being stuck doing all of the chores, but I'll have to tell him what Dumbledore said. I just want to be by myself."  

            As Harry thought this, he decided that as soon as he finished packing, he would go flying around the school before leaving for the rest of the summer.

*  *  *  * 

"Mom, do you think that we could buy a family owl?" Laurali asked Samantha as she was looking at the clothing rack at her favorite department store.

"An owl?" Samantha questions.

"Yes, an owl. That way you would be able to get in touch with me at school if anything happened, or if you wanted to send me a letter or something." 

"So do you think they'll have pretty white ones?" 

"Thanks Mom. I knew you would understand. And to that question, let's finish up here and head over to the wizarding village. I'll need to get some things for school anyways."

"And we can get some of that ice cream I love so much." 

~  ~  ~  ~

"So, do you think we could call her Whitey?" Samantha says while walking out of the store putting the receipt into her wallet. She was surprised when her daughter burst out laughing.

"MOM! Whitey?" laughter " Have you ever seen the movie Me, Myself and Irene?"

"Umm, NO." Samantha says being confused.

"Okay, well I explain-"

"You do that, while I eat my ice cream!" 

~  ~   ~   ~

"Okay, well in the movie, a man discovers that he is a schizophrenic and he calls a man "Whitey" because he is dressed all in white, pale skin, big black glasses, and light hair. Now, do you still want to call this gorgeous owl "Whitey"?"

"How about…Solanta?" 

"Oooh! That's pretty! " Laurali exclaims while turning to her new owl. "Hello Solanta. Do you like your new name?" 

"Solanta" hooted happily in response.

"So I guess her name is Solanta." Chuckles softly. "So how about we go get some of your things for school?" Samantha asks while putting her last bite of maple walnut ice cream cone in her mouth, and waiting for Laurali to finish up her black raspberry cone.

"Let's go."

A/N: 

Sorry this chapter was a little on the short side, I'm so tired. I think that my turkey was drugged with some sleeping pills or something. I don't know. Well, I'm actually just kidding, but as of right now, I can't write so I figured that this would be good for right now. 

Since it's a long weekend, I'll try to get another descent-sized chapter up before Monday. But I'm not making any promises.

Please review. Because of now, I don't think that people don't like my story so I may not continue anymore if I don't get some reviews. So If you want this story to continue, REVIEW!


	8. 8Experiencing Diagon Alley

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. I only own Laurali, other characters and the plot.

AN: So, I said in the last chapter that I was thinking of discontinuing this story.  And I wasn't lie. As of now, I have a total of 5 reviews. And to those few reviewers, I thank you for taking an interest in my story, but I will discontinue this if I don't have at least 5 more reviews by the middle of next month. I'm sorry that that's what I will end up doing. I also realize that nothing extremely significant, or exciting has happened yet, but as I have said in a previous author note, I feel that its important that I am taking the time to introduce the main characters, Harry and Laurali before they actually meet and everything.  So, I do apologize for my bitterness, but here is the next chapter:

***~~~Chapter 8. Experiencing Diagon Alley~~~***

            Summer was going by very slowly in Laurali's opinion.  August 1st was only 1 week away and was taking its time getting here.  Each day was going by extremely slow. The young witch had had to resort in spending her free time reviewing her material from Salem.  Now, if any of you have forgotten, August 1st was the day that she was going to meet Professor Diagon Alley in London for her placement exam. She was hoping that she would be with people her own age, and that she'd be in a good house and dorm.

            Finally, July 31st came.  Laurali was extremely nervous and worried that she would sleep in late and never be able to meet the Headmaster. (A/N: It was kind of like those nightmares that people seem to have when ever they are anticipating something I important)

            She had arranged with her former principal, Mrs. Myerstown, to use the schools fireplace to floo to Diagon Alley.

**~   ~   ~   ~**

"Laurali! Honey, wake up!" Samantha said to her sleeping daughter.  In response, Laurali rolled over.  Samantha started to tickle the sleep figure.

"AHH!! Mom!" screams Laurali.  "Alright, I'm up! I'm up!

"Good. Now you have a little over an hour until we need to leave for the school."

~   ~   ~   ~

An hour later, Laurali finally decided that she looked good enough and headed down stairs.  She quickly remembered her overnight bag before actually leaving her room.

      "Hey Mom. I'd ready, can we leave now?"

      "Yeah sure, I just have to go to the Ladies Room quickly before we can leave."

      "Okay, I'll be in the car.

~   ~   ~   ~

"Now Laurali. Be careful.  I want you to send me an owl tonight saying that you're okay. Of course, don't lie and say that you are if you really aren't." pause "We're expecting you to be back at noon tomorrow." Samantha says to a nervous Laurali.

      "Don't worry Mama. I'll be okay. Maybe I'll come back with some interesting things to talk about." Laurali replies to her mother with a final wink.

      "Bye hunny, I love you."

      "I love you too Mom."

Laurali walked into the fireplace with a handful of floo powder and yelled, "DIAGON ALLEY!"

*   *   *   *

Life at the Dursley's was going just how Harry predicted it to be like.  He was doing all of the chores. Currently he was weeding, trimming and straightening Petunia's flower gardens when he received an owl.  It was from none other than Ron Weasley.

      _Hey Harry,_

_I just wanted to say 'Happy Birthday!'  I have your card and gift at my house.  I don't think that Errol would have been able to deliver them to you and survive.  I hope you don't mind._

_      I guess Mom wants to get our shopping done early or something this year 'cause I overheard her saying that we're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow after you arrive._

_                                                                              See you tomorrow,_

_                                                                                          Ron_

'It's my birthday? Ron wouldn't have mistaken that. Wow! I'm 15."Harry thought while retreating to the kitchen has he finished what he had to do.

"I know what day it is." An annoying voice said as Harry walked upstairs. Harry ignored him and kept walking.

            "Hey! I'm talking to you!" The voice said annoyed.

            "Good for you Dudley.  I don't give a rats ass what you manage to know in that fat head of yours. " Harry coldly said. "Now, I'm going to take a shower.  The last time I checked, I was a big boy, though not nearly as big as you, I wouldn't think that that would be possible, but _I_ can take my own shower so _excuse_ me."

            "What's gotten into him?" Dudley muttered while walking away.

*   *    *   *

Harry was waiting anxiously for Ron to pick him up. While he was waiting he was reading over the cards/letters that he received from Hermione, Hagrid, Sirius and Remus while he was in the shower.

            For some reason or another, all of his birthday "messages" except for the one Ron had given, were delivered while he was in the shower.

            'Strange how that happens' Harry thought while sitting down in an extremely clean chair. 'Aunt Petunia is going to hate me even more the next time I come back here because of all of the floo powder…'

            Almost suddenly, Harry heard the sound of Ron coming through the fireplace.

"Hi Ron." Harry says to his friend while helping him off the floor.

"Hey mate. Are you ready to go?" Ron says.

"definitely. Let me just tell Aunt Petunia that I'm leaving. She probably wont even notice or care." Harry walked quickly into the kitchen where Petunia was.

            "Bye Aunt Petunia. See you next summer I guess."

            "Yeah, whatever bye." She snaps.

            "Right, lets go." Harry says to Ron before grabbing his trunk and heading over to the fireplace.  "Ron, take Hedwig for me will ya?"

            "Got her. You can go now."

            "I'll see you in a minute." Says Harry while taking a handful of floo powder and throwing it into the fire shouting "the BURROW!"

______________________________________________________________________

            (A/N: I really thought about ending it here, but then I decided that since I'm not tired (no turkey today. LOL) I can write more.)                                                       

~   ~   ~   ~

Laurali helped herself out of the fireplace she was standing and took a good look around the room she was in.  She was in what appeared to be an old, but successful restaurant type of thingy. There were men and women all around her. They looked at her strangely. Some smiled, others weren't so pleasant. She had to admit to herself, that she was dressed differently, and had a backpack carelessly over her shoulder.  Most wizards and witches don't use such things.

            "Er, good morning missy, can I help you with anything?" A wizard with an apron, balding white hair said.

            "Yes. Hi, is this the Leaky Cauldron?" The young witch said slowly.

            "Yes, it is.  I am Tom, owner and caretaker. What would you like?" Tom replies with a small bow.

            "Oh good. Could I get one room for one tonight please?"

            "Of course. Come this way please. Now, Room # 3 is free. Allow me to show you the way…"

*   *   *   *

            "Hello Harry dear." Mrs. Weasley says while leading Harry over to the kitchen.

            "You must be starving. Have a spot of breakfast before we leave."

            "Thanks Mrs. Weasley." Harry finally says while moving to get his fork.

*   *   *   *  
  


            An hour later, the Weasley's and Harry were all in Diagon alley. The boys had owled Hermione to meet them for ice cream at 2 pm. Ginny, Harry had noticed wasn't nervous around him anymore, she was more confident. And with this, Harry was grateful.

            The "group" walked into Gringotts to get some money. Harry's money pouch was close to being empty. He had to make sure that he had enough for Hogsmeade and the day. 

            At the next counter, he noticed a pretty girl that was around his age.  Harry noticed that she had slightly wavy brown hair, and brown eyes. He also noticed that she was dressed differently than the girls that he knew.  She was wearing a jean mini-skirt, a light pink halter-top and black platform sandals. Harry heard her say something that sounded like "American muggle bills into the correct currency." Soon after this, she left the store with a backwards look to Harry and smiled.

            Harry didn't notice that it was his turn to talk to the goblin in front of him before Ron poked him hard in the ribs.

A/N: I hope this was good. I enjoyed writing it.  Course it did leave me to get no sleep last night, but at least I finished it to send it.  

Don't forget to review, or I'm gonna discontinue this story!

            So here are some questions,

So how do you like the way that I had this chapter go? Do you think that the girl and Harry will meet again? Is this girl Laurali? If you haven't noticed, I haven't said anything about her appearance except for that she was a 15 year old girl.

PS. Im changing the title the next time I update. That way, you'll have a heads up!


	9. 9A heart to heart talk, and an exam

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! And yes, there was a hint of romance in there. But will anything come from that? You'll have to read to find out.

**Jenalla**-your the greatest! Thanks so much!

**Wacky-Tarz**- thanks for the review! I'll have to check out your story sometime!

**Makatochi**- thanks for your understanding. 

*~~~Chapter 9: A heart to heart talk, and an exam~~~*

            As Laurali walked into her room at the Leaky Cauldron, she realized that she has a nice room. There's a nice, soft bed, a small, but complete bathroom, and a comfy chair in front of the fireplace. She found out that Tom, the owner was very friendly and trustworthy.

"Now don't get into any trouble, and don't go into Knockturn Alley; you would regret it." He had talked to her in a protecting fathering voice, and she actually found it comforting that a stranger would give her so much advice.

As Laurali walked down Diagon Alley's cobblestone street, she realized that she had only brought American money. In America, since there is mainly half-bloods, there was no "muggle money" and "wizarding money"; they used the same currency. 

She didn't know where she was going, so being the woman she was, she stopped and asked directions.

"Gringotts, eh? It's righ' down the street thur'. Big, white place." A man with a big beard and hair responded to her question. 

"He must be at least 10 feet tall" she thought while thanking the kind stranger.

At Gringotts, she found herself walking up to the counter. She was the fourth person in line, so while waiting patiently, Laurali took in her surroundings.  Goblins were handling money, muggle and wizarding, jewelry, and other fine items. At the register, she smiled at the goblin, which nodded in return.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely. Laurali saw that he had a plaque on his portion of the counter, which read "Melvin"

"Hello Melvin. Yes, can I change 200 American bills into the correct currency please?" She calmly asked while handing "Melvin" her money.

"Here you are miss."

"Thank you Melvin." She said as she was receiving the pouch that he handed her. As she did this, she had that feeling that someone was looking at her.

"Probably some rich, pureblood, ugly old man" she thought while turning to leave, but she knew that she wanted to know if she was right. She wasn't.  She glanced back quickly and was surprised.  She was looking at a teenage boy, possibly her own age, with adorably messy brown hair and glasses. He looked to be about 5'6" tall, and had a athletic build. Around him was a family with red hair. The boy behind him looked at her and then looked back at the boy with brown hair, the red head nudged his friend in the gut with his elbow. She smiled and walked out the door.

Outside, she looked at her watch and saw that it read 1:00 pm. "Where did my morning go? I must have been stuck in line longer that I thought."

Wanting to enjoy lunch, she started her walk back to the Leaky Cauldron. While moving quite quickly, she accidentally ran into a girl with frizzing-brown hair. 

"Excuse me" both girls said while looking at each other. 

Not wanting to be rushed, Laurali quickly muttered "Sorry" and left for the diner.

At the Leaky cauldron, she ordered her classic meal: crispy chicken tenders, fries, and a lemonade.  She'd worry about eating healthy for dinner.

After lunch, she grabbed one of her favorite books of all time: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. It was a Cinderella spin off, and a romance comedy. Such a great mix in her opinion.

Ella was just about to slide down the banister with Char catching her at the bottom when she heard:

"Good afternoon. Miss. Richardson I presume? -Laurali nods head- "good afternoon sir. Are you Professor Dumbledore?"

"Correct. Follow me please."

Dumbledore let her into a private parlor that had little tables all over.

"Miss Richardson, you are here today because you would to enter Hogwarts." 

Once again, Laurali nods her head as to saying, "yes continue"

"And you are able to. I need you to take a placement exam, which would determine how far you are in your studies, and what year you would be put in. At Salem, I understand tha you are required to take muggle classes as well as wizarding"

"Yes sir. The United States does not have many pureblood wizarding families as in any other country; most of the students are muggle born.  So in order to ready us for a life after school, we had to take a year of mathematics, muggle history and language arts. Those were the muggle classes that could help us. We also had Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, a little of magical history, Defense against the dark arts, and Herbology."

"Yes that's how I also understood the school curriculum.  I understand that you would not know all of the history information that is usually questioned, so I took that out.  This is the written portion of the exam. I'm afraid that the practical portion won't be until the start of school, I have other business that I must attend to immediately after this meeting." -Pause- " Now, I expect that this shouldn't take too long, about an hour I suppose. I shall be back at 3:30.  I am expecting another student shortly. Take your time, and read all of the instructions carefully. If you don't understand something, you can always skip it and go back to it later. I asked Tom to check up on you every now and then.

"Thank you professor." Laurali says while Dumbledore stood up to leave.  She was grateful that she would have the entire room for herself; she sometimes found it easier to answer a question if she said it aloud instead of thinking in her head. Hey, it worked for her, why not do it?

"hmm.. okay, let's see. 'Section 1. Multiple Choice.

#1. Which of the following is considered a water demon?

            a. Grindylow                                       B. dementor

            c. Snowshoe hare                             D. hippogriff" 

Smiling to herself, she picked up her pen and started to work.

--     --     --      --     --     --     --     --     --     --      --     --     --     --     --     --     --      --     --

"My Lord, there is news that Potter is in Diagon Alley with no one but those Weasley scum." A voice says.

"Yes. But that muggle-loving fool Dumbledore is there as well! DO you not understand _complete_ research?"

"Forgive me my Lord" the voice stammered.

"Yeah, yeah, _get up_. Those stupid people shopping need to know that I am back! And I am going to rule this world! **_No_** one can stop me!"

--     --     --      --     --     --     --     --     --     --      --     --     --     --     --     --     --      --     --

Harry's scar started to prickle.  Voldemort was either close by, or feeling extremely murderous. Harry didn't know which was worse.

"Harry!" Ron yelled. "You need to sit down! Let's go to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Ron," Harry started patiently, " I am not dying or anything. My scar is just prickly, kind of like back in our first year, but occasionally sudden sharp pains."

Ron looked hesitant but said, "If you're sure. Let's go to meet Hermione now. She's probably already there; you know how punctual that girl is."

"Ron, where not meeting her until an hour. Now you wouldn't like Hermione or anything, would you?"

Ron's face had a look of terror and confusement. This just made Harry burst out laughing. (AN: I don't know if confusement is a word, WORD doesn't seem to think so, but hey! I make up my own words all the time!) 

"It's all right man. I wont tell her or anything. That's your job."

"Yeah, thanks. So do _you_ like that girl we saw earlier?"

"Ha ha. What girl are you talking about? We didn't see anyone we knew. Nobody from school comes shopping this early until the end of the holidays."

"No you prat." –smacks him in the back of the slightly- "the girl at Gringotts. The one you were staring and drooling at for who knows how long."

"I wasn't staring or drooling, and your point is _what_ exactly?"

"There really isn't one. Polite conversation. Guy talk. Call it whatever you want to."

"I call it nothing. Yeah, so that girl was pretty. Its not like I'll ever see her again or anything."

"You never know. She could be an exchange student for all we know."

"I doubt it Ron. After everything that happened last year, you really think that Dumbledore would allow for at transfer student?"

"He's trusting. And he's a little on the nutsy side." (another made up word!)

"_Nutsy_? What the _hell_ is nutsy?"

Ron grinned. "My fabulous use of the English language." 


	10. 10More of Diagon Alley

AN: I decided to have a poll at the end, so check that out. I decided that every 10 chapters, I'll have a brief summary of what has been happening, that way u as readers, and I as a writer won't forget anything major that has happened. True, nothing big has happened so far, but I thought I'd just refresh your memories.

Summary of what has been happening from Chapters 1-9

****

Harry: Harry comes to Hogwart's during his break for about a week where Professor Dumbledore tells him of the prophecy and why he has to live with his aunt and uncle. (Review previous chapters, "The Truth" (both of them) for full detail.) During his stay at Hogwarts, Sirius Black, Harry's godfather comes to visit him. They get to know each other more and just hang out. 

When Harry goes back to his aunt and uncle's house, he gets a letter from Ron. It was Harry's birthday, which he had forgotten, and the letter explained that he'd have to get his gift the next day, when Harry goes to Ron's. When Harry gets to Ron's, they eat breakfast and then head off to Diagon Alley for school supplies among other things. 

In Gringotts, Harry sees a pretty girl, whom he suspects is an American teenage witch. Later that day, Ron teases Harry about the girl, and Harry teases Ron back about Hermione, who they were going to meet shortly.

****

Laurali: Laurali Richardson is a muggle-born American witch who is transferring to Hogwarts the next year. She lives in Massachusetts, where she previously attended a Salem's school for witches. She spends a week of her summer with her family in Newport, RI.

While shopping with her mother, they purchase a family owl (American magic folk don't use owls), and name her Sonata. 

On August 1st, Laurali awakes early in order to floo to The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley, London, England. There, she reserves a room at the pub, and starts to the bank, Gringotts. There, she converts $200 American muggle money into Knuts, Sickles and Galleons. She feels someone staring at her, and turns around to find a cute boy, about her age staring at her. She smiles at him and walks out the door.

Laurali realizes that it's getting late, and goes back to The Leaky Cauldron for lunch. While reading her favorite book Ella Enchanted, Professor Dumbledore walks in and introduces himself. They go off into another room where Laurali will be taking her placement exam. 

That took longer than I thought, oh well, here's the promised chapter.

*~~~Chapter 10-More of Diagon Alley~~~*

Laurali was finished with her exam. She quickly looked at her watch, and saw that it was nearing 3:30, the time when Dumbledore was to return. After reviewing her test for what seemed like the hundredth time, he finally returned.

"Hello Miss Richardson. I assume that you have finished your exam," Professor Dumbledore said kindly. 

"Yes sir. Will it be graded now?" The young witch asked eagerly.

"Yes. It will take a few minutes to grade; you can wait here if you wish."

"Thank you sir. I'm a little thirsty, though, would you mind if I got a drink and came back in a few minutes?"

"Of course. Take your time."

"Thank-you sir," she said.

While Laurali was retreating to the door, she turned back and saw the Professor wasn't reading through her test with a red correcting pen, as she had thought he would have been, but instead he held his wand up to each page and muttered something she didn't recognize. Each page glowed a light green as he did this. Not wanting to be thought of as a spy or anything, she slipped out of the room carefully and went up to the bar. 

"Hi Tom!"

"Good afternoon Miss Laurali. Did you finish your test already?"

"Yes, I did. Professor Dumbledore is grading it as we speak."

"That's nice. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes, could I have a lemonade please?"

"Course you can. Here you are."

While they were conversing, Laurali didn't notice that there was a teenage boy her age sitting not too far away from her. When she did notice, he was sitting right next to her. She saw that he had straight brown hair, blue eyes, and what appeared to be an expensive cloak. He was looking at her intently, and it made her nervous and somewhat annoyed.

Turning to the boy, she calmly said, "Can I help you?"

"Yes," he replied with a French accent. He paused for a second, and the girl had to wonder what he wanted exactly; maybe he didn't speak English so well. However, he was taking a long time to say anything, and this really annoyed her. 

"Yes? Really?" *pause* "Then what?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

"Calm down. I want to ask you something."

"And that would be what exactly?"

"Oh, I just love your fiery attitude-."

"Fabulous. Don't get used to it," she said very sarcastically, and then turned to Tom, who wasn't too far away and said, "Thanks for the lemonade Tom." 

She left behind a bewildered boy, and a confounded barkeeper. Turning back to the room where Dumbledore was, she shook her head slightly, and tried to keep from laughing.

~ ~ ~ ~

Harry and Ron were looking at the new Quidditch posters when suddenly they heard a familiar voice from behind. Turning around, they were face to face with none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Well look who we have here. Potty and the Weasel," Draco sneered. 

"What do you want Malfoy? We don't have time for your weak-ass bullshit," Ron said sourly. 

"What are you doing in a shop Weasel? I wouldn't be surprised if you were acting like a child whining about wanting something you couldn't have. You never know, some old person might pity you and buy it for you."

Harry had to hold Ron back by the collar of his robes.

"Well look at Potter. So, where's your great protector, Dumbledore? He's not always going to be around."

"That's true, but for now, I am," said a calm voice.

"Good afternoon Professor. Ron and I were just looking at the new posters here when he came up to us," Harry explained while glaring and pointing at Malfoy.

"Well, that's not what I'm here about. I was just walking down to The Leaky Cauldron to meet a new student."

While Harry and Dumbledore were talking, Malfoy managed to slip out of the shop. The wise professor of course knew this, but allowed Malfoy to go, for now. 

"That boy will have a lot of trouble life later on if he doesn't learn to act civil," he thought carefully.

"I must be off. Why don't you come meet the new student later? I would say about quarter to 4. I saw Miss Granger waiting at the Ice Cream Shoppe. If you happen to meet up with her, why don't you three come meet me there? I'm sure this student wouldn't mind meeting some other students her age before school started."

When he mentioned Hermione, Ron and Harry faces turned to identical looks of terror and panic- they had forgotten about meeting her!

"Thank you Professor, we'd love to meet the new student. But right now, we're supposed to be at the Ice Cream Shoppe with Hermione, so until later if you please…"

"Of course boys," Dumbledore said as they walked out of the shop, the professor going one way, and the boys the other.

"How could we have forgotten about meeting Hermione?!" Ron exclaimed. "We were supposed to be there 10 minutes ago!" he finished while breaking into a run.

"Hermione, we are so sorry. We got distracted at the Quidditch shop-"

"It's alright. I hope you don't mind, but I got bored waiting for you so I ordered my ice cream already. And, speak of the devil..."

A young looking waitress came out with a dish of black raspberry ice cream heaped with numerous toppings on it. After they placed their orders, Harry turned to Hermione.

"Do you think you have enough toppings Hermione?" he asked sarcastically.

"Actually, no, they ran out of jimmies. So I had to settle without them," she said laughing.

Ron wasn't saying much, but kept looking at Hermione. Harry turned away, pretending to be looking at some flowers so he could laugh lightly. 

"I sure do hope that he does something about that," he thought while turning back to his friends.

* * * *

"Miss Richardson, I have finished grading your test. I am pleased to say that from now on, you will be a 5th year. Congratulations."

Laurali sighed a breath of relief. 

Dumbledore continued, "There are some students who should be coming here to meet you soon. They are rather friendly; I thought that you would want to meet some other students before school."

"Oh yes, thank you. I was hoping that I would be able to make some new friends. That would be wonderful. However, I was wondering...could I be sorted now, instead of in front of the rest of the school? Because, no offense sir, I wouldn't want to meet people from Hogwarts, if I didn't know what house I would be in."

"Actually, that is our next order of business. I brought The Sorting Hat with me incase you wanted to be sorted now. If you would take a seat please."

Laurali sat down and the professor placed the hat onto her head.

"I see that you want to prove yourself, and you are sly. You're bravery overcomes your intelligence. You are loyal. My, you fit all 4 houses. The best better be: GRYFFINDOR!"

"Cool! I'm in Gryffindor!" she squealed. 

"Yes, my old house. Congratulations. From what I have seen from you today, you will get along nicely with your fellow students." With a quick look at a watch with many dials, he said, "I best be going. It was wonderful meeting you Miss Richardson. Now remember, school starts September 1st. You need to take the train from Platform 9 ¾ from London."

At that moment, a group of teenagers walked into the pub, and looked around. The girl with frizzing-brown hair that Laurali ran into that day pointed over to Dumbledore and whispered to two boys. 

"They look extremely familiar," Laurali thought as she looked over at the group.

"Ah, here they are. Miss Richardson, these are the students that I told you about. They are also in Gryffindor. This is Hermione Granger," he said pointing to the girl, "Ron Weasley," while pointing to the boy with red hair, "and Harry Potter," pointing to the boy with brown hair and glasses. "Harry, Ron and Hermione, this is Laurali Richardson. She is a transfer student from America. I'm sure she'll tell you more about herself later. Now I must be leaving. Good night." 

"Hi. I'm Laurali. You can just call me Laura or Laur," she said shyly. 

"Hi, I'm Harry. You know, you look awfully familiar," Harry said. 

"Yeah, you do too. I think that could be because I saw you two" *pointing to the two boys* " at Gringotts earlier."

For some reason, Harry blushed, but said, "Oh."

"So you're from America?" the girl asked.

"Yeah. I used to attend a school in Salem for witches, but I always wanted to come to Hogwarts so I owled Professor Dumbledore a few weeks ago, and here I am."

"How about we go get a table to something? We're sorta standing in the middle of the doorway," Harry said reasonably.

"Good idea, let's go," Ron said. 

AN: what do you think so far? Lemme know in a REVIEW! I am open to suggestions. Here's this quick poll:

Poll:

Should Laurali and Harry date/go out (call it whatever you want)?

* Yeah, that would be so cute!

* Do whatever you feel like chica

* Definitely NO! 

Just thought that I'd do whatever every1 thought would be the best, although I may add twists to it.


	11. 11At the Leaky Cauldron

A/N: All right, so I have received few responses to my poll so if you haven't replied at all, please do. Thanks to those who reviewed and voted! Here are some responses to some reviewers, and then the next chapter.

Jessie81589: Thanks for all of the criticism, I guess. When you said that they don't say hell in England, I would just like to point out that in the movies, and in Hp books, Ron says "bloody hell." It's sort of the same thing I think. So thank you for letting me know, but that's my thought on that. And yes, my writing style can be annoying, but that would be because I am not a very strong writer, that is one of my reasons to writing this fic. My 8th grade English teacher threatened to put me in the lowest English level because I couldn't spell her name right. Anyway, with Harry's locations in the first few chapters, I wanted it to be somewhat of a flashback. Then he gets Ron's letter, then he's at the Burrow, then Diagon Alley.

Jenalla: lol. Thanks! I love all of my made-up words too! I think they're the funny parts as of now. Thanks for offering to be my Beta Reader! I'm sure you're doing great!

Aedre: Thanks for the link thingy! I took the quiz and I got a total of 22 "yes checks." So I guess that Laurali is original enough. So thanks!

*~~~Chapter 11: Discussions at the Leaky Cauldron~~~*

"So you're all 5th year Gryffindors?" Laur asked eagerly.

"Yep, and proud of it!" Ron replied, the excitement evident in his tone. 

"So do you know which House you'll be in? Or do you have to wait till school?" Harry asked.

"Just like you, 5th year Gryffindor," Laur said smiling.

"Great!" Hermione started, " We'll probably be in the same dorm. Finally, someone who isn't completely into gossip and boys." (Ron and Harry start to laugh.)

"Getting sick of Lavender and Parvarti?" Ron asks in between laughs.

"I didn't say that Ron! But now that you mention it, yes, I guess I am getting more annoyed of them now than I used to."

Through all of this, Laurali was quiet, but then: "So, who are these girls exactly?"

"Oh sorry Laur," Harry apologized. "But Lavender and Parvarti are also 5th year Gryffindors. All they care about are look good, gossip, and boys. In other words, they're extremely girly and annoying."

"Ahh, I see. Well just to warn you…" Laur started but stopped when she received looks from her three new Gryffindor friends. "I'm also girly, but I'm not exactly into the whole gossiping thing. I think that peoples' business is their own, and not for the entire world."

"Yeah, we know, especially me," Harry said with an almost bitter tone. Laur noticed, but when he said no more, it became obvious to her that he had no interest in talking about it, so she let it drop. 

"So tell me, what kind of fun things are there to do at Hogwarts?"

"Well there's Quidditch," Harry started ("Best game there is!" Ron added quickly). "You do know what Quidditch is, right?"

"Yes, I know what it is..." Laur said. 

"Good," Ron said. "'Cuz if I met one more person that didn't know what Quidditch was..."

"...It's a silly sport played on broomsticks, throwing balls back and forth. Like soccer and basketball mixed together, except in the air," Laur said, finishing her earlier statement. 

Ron and Harry's mouths were again, open in shock. Hermione on the other hand looked the happiest she had been all day. 

"YES! Someone else who feels the same way I do!" She said triumphantly 

Ron and Harry's faces once again had identical looks of horror. 

"How could you possibly think that?!" Ron said, practically yelling.

"Easily," Laur said while Hermione just looked around the room, innocently. " I don't really like sports. Yeah, watching is all fun and dandy, but playing them and getting into arguments about them, it's just not me at all. I'm a dancer. That's what I do." 

"What? You mean you where those big pink poufy things and do little twirls and stuff?" Harry asked incredulously. 

"Feels like I've been slapped in the face," she said, smirking. "And, if you can actually believe this, I don't wear one of those big poufy things, which is called a tutu by the way. Why is it that everytime I say that I dance, people automatically picture tutus? That's not what dancing is about. To you it may seem like some wimpy little thing not worthy of being called a sport, but to me, it's life." 

Harry and Ron look at each other, wondering where she was going with this, and turned back to the girl. "You can think that all you want, but until you've actually gotten up in front of a crowd and danced, or even just taken some classes, you really have no right to judge.

"It may not be as competitive as Quidditch or you're other 'manly sports', but it still is. To get dressed up in our costumes and do our hair and make-up, that's only half of it. To be part of a dance class is something special. We train together for months, making sure our bodies are perfectly in synch with one another, and that we move as one. Like a team." 

"Not to burst your bubble or anything, but in Quidditch, the players also have to work as a team," Ron said.

"True," Laur started, "But in dance, you have to move together, or you'll look kind of dumb. It's a lot, and I repeat, a lot of work. We put in as much work as you would for a Quidditch practice. True, there are some of my classes where we just fool around. But we're having fun doing it. And there are also other classes where we get a 5-10 minute warm up by-yourself period, and then there's no stopping after that. Learning routines, steps, dances, etc.

Okay, so now that I've bitched to you guys about dance, what were you saying about fun things to do at Hogwarts?" Laur finally finished.

"Err, right. Well like Harry said, there's Quidditch, and that's about it. There are the occasional Hogsmeade weekends, when we go to the village for the afternoon, and there's hanging out around the school," Ron said.

"Don't you ever get bored?" Laur asked.

"That's where Ron's older brothers come in. They're some of the greatest pranksters of all time...except for the Marauders of course," Hermione said.

"The Marauders?" Laur asked.

"We'll tell you all about them later," Harry added.

"Yep, and so the twins, Fred and George-Ron's brothers, cause havoc all over the school. Most of the outcomes are hilarious," Hermione finished.

"Of course, there was the time when Moody, err Crouch, turned Malfoy into a white ferret last year," Harry put in. All three of them, started laughing hilariously, except Laurali, who of course had no idea what they were talking about. Hermione had tears of mirth in her eyes, Harry doubled over with laughter, and Ron's face was beet red and he was banging his fists on the tables. 

"Right," Laur said while laughing at the bunch in front of her, who were getting strange looks and glares from the various people in the pub.

"Sorry, Laur-" Ron started, and then laughed again slightly, "but you just had to be there; to see one of your enemies turned into a white ferret, with a little red nose- it was pretty hilarious." 

"I'll bet...so who should I watch out for when I get to Hogwarts?"

Hermione, Harry, and Ron looked at each other and in unison said. "The Slytherins."

"What's so bad about them?" Laur asked.

"Well most of their families are dark arts lovers, and followers of...Voldemort," Harry whispered while Ron and Hermione shuddered. "And they're against Muggle-borns."

"And my family," Ron added.

"Umm, not to sound stupid or anything, but who's Voldemort?" Laurali asked. She had never heard of him. In shock, they all stared at her open-mouthed. 

"You mean, you've never heard of Lord Voldemort?" Hermione asked quietly.

"No. Should I?"

"Well I'd like to think so!" Harry yelled.

"Harry..." Hermione warned. She knew Harry got mad easily, but she also had a feeling that he would blame all of the recent events on himself.

"Alright, sorry. I'll tell you what I know. First of all, he's half-Muggle, and grew up in an orphanage after his mother died, and his father abandoned him. He was also Salazar Slytherin's heir."

"Founder of Slytherin house," Hermione cut in. Laur looked from Harry to Hermione and nodded thanks.

"Now, as you can imagine growing up in an orphanage, he never received any type of love and comfort. So when he was in school, his friends called him Voldemort (Ron and Hermione shuddered again). And when he was about 16, he went to his fathers house, killed him, and his grandparents. Later that year, he sent a basilisk against the students, and ended up killing one girl.

Moaning Myrtle. She's the girl who was killed, and now she's a ghost who haunts the girls' loo. Now she's 'nutsy'," Ron said, and smirked at Harry.

"'Nutsy'? I like it," Laur said. "Continue please Harry."

"So after graduating from school..."

"Wait a second. If he made a basilisk kill a girl, and he killed other people, wouldn't he have been expelled from school and thrown into prison?" Laur asked.

"Well normally yes, but no one knew he committed those murders. He blamed another student for the basilisk, who did get expelled," Hermione said.

"I see. So when he graduated…"

"He went really deep into the dark arts, gathered followers, which are called 'deatheaters'. Today, most of the wizarding worlds, well at least in Europe, still live in fear of him."

"You speak as if he's dead. What happened to him? Is it still alive and around?"

"Well, about 14 years ago, he heard of a prophecy about the only person who would be able to kill him, once and for all. That person, who would have been a boy born in July, his parents had defied him three times. This prophecy could have been talking about two boys, and one of them...is me," Harry said quietly. "And although I know who the other person is, he doesn't, so I wont tell you."

"Harry you never told us that," Ron said, feeling hurt. Here was his best friend, telling a girl that they just met, some information like this, without even telling his best friends first.

"I know. Dumbledore just told me a few weeks ago. So anyways, when I was about a year old, he came to my house, killed my father and my mother, who died defending me. He tried to kill me, but I obviously survived. The spell backfired, led him to his brief downfall, and it made me 'the-boy-who-lived', and more famous that I would ever have wanted to be," Harry said sadly, looking down.

"How could I have not known any of this before I decided to transfer?" Laurali whispered sadly. She looked at the three before her; Ron and Hermione were closely watching Harry to see what he would do, and Harry looked quite depressed. 

So, what do you mean by 'brief downfall'?" She said to the group. Hermione and Ron continued looking at Harry.

"He's back. Because I'm such a fool, and so stupid about everything!" Harry said angrily, his voice breaking.

"Harry! It's not your fault," Hermione said soothingly. She moved over to him and gave him a quick hug, like a mother would do to an upset child. Ron looked sad for his friend, but Laurali thought that, just for a second, she saw a look of jealousy shoot across his face.

"You know, Harry, I have a room upstairs. If you want, you can lie down for a bit, be alone for a while," Laur said comfortingly.

"Thanks Laur. I think I will," Harry said gloomily.

"Here, I'll come up with you for a bit, move all my stuff out of the way," Laurali said while picking up her purse, and leading the way to her room.

A/N: Well that's that chapter. I hope you liked it. The next chapter will be up soon, I hope. Remember to: REVIEW! And if you didn't review for the poll in the previous chapter, do that in this one, instead. It just asks if you as readers should think that Harry and Laurali should get together. REVIEW and VOTE!!


	12. 12Room 3 and Laur's Kind Words of Wisdom

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking with me! I'm so sorry about the delay on the 2 previous chapters. I had them typed up for like 3 weeks before I actually managed a way to add them. This is going to be a long chapter. I wanna get school started for them soon, so this will be the longest chapter by far.

I am glad to say that now I have a great Beta reader! So now this story will make more sense, and everything! So thanks Jenalla! She has some interesting stories of her own in the works, one "Consequences of Being Wrong", and under another name, "Burning Roses." They're good stories! 

I know these last chapters are kind of boring, they are more like fuller chapters, but I hope that by the end of February they'll be at Hogwarts and there'll be more of a plot going on! But on with the chapter!

And I know that Laurali seems as a "Mary Sue" type of character, but I hope that in the near future she won't be one any longer and become her own character! Now own with the story! And don't forget to review!

*~~~Chapter 12: Room 3 and Laur's Kind Words of Wisdom~~~*

Laurali walked with Harry upstairs to her room. Harry wandered over to the soft sofa near the fireplace and put his feet up lazily. 

"I never realized that was there," Laur thought while sitting on the floor near him. "Harry, I am so sorry..." 

"Don't be," he responded. "It's just that I found out all of this information only a week ago, and with last June, I've just been kind of… out of it."

"It's completely understandable. I know that I can't relate to you problems exactly, well, in fact, my biggest worries for awhile has only been school, but I do know this: the more you let Voldemort bother you, the less happy you will be. Don't let it become your life."

"But that's just it!" Harry yelled, stamping his feet firmly on the ground. "It is my life! This is my destiny! To either kill Voldemort, or be killed by him! He's always been there, and he always will be! He killed my parents; took away my normalcy and childhood in the blink of an eye! And you know what? I'm beginning to think that I'm not going to win this, and that I'm going to let the entire world down. This is...it's just too much responsibility for me! Sometimes, I wish that I had never come to Hogwarts, never found out that I was a wizard, that I could go back to my other life; before when I was just Harry Potter, that scary kid in the neighborhood everyone either stayed away from or picked on."

"Harry. I understand that he's always been a problem, and perhaps always will be. But you can't let him get to you like this. Right now, you're letting him get the best of you, and for that, he may as well have won. By being all stressed and pissed off, and even regretting everything that you have ever done- that's letting him win." As she was talking, she moved her position and ended up sitting on the couch next to Harry. 

"Don't let him win. Don't let him kill your friends. Don't let him kill you. Right now, worry about you. Don't worry about the entire world, when I bet that at least half of it doesn't even know about Voldemort. I didn't until today. Worry about the people you know, Harry. Worry about the people you care about. 

"And when that final battle comes, play as dirty as you have to, because in the end, you can always take a shower." She said all of her little speech very seriously until the end, when she had a confused but playful look on her face.

"Hmm... 'play as dirty as you have to, because in the end, you can always take a shower'? What is that all about?" Harry said with a small smile.

"I don't know. It sort of just came out. Do you like it?" Laurali asked with a grin.

"Well it made me smile, didn't it?" he said.

"Yeah, I guess it did."

"Thanks Laur."

"Any time. I just love giving crazy advice to people that I just met. It's no biggie." *another grin* "But seriously, don't let him win. Don't let him live your life. Live life the way you want to, not the way he wants you to."

"You're a great friend Laur. And you know what would make you an even better friend?" 

"What's that?" 

"Some chocolate."

Laurali laughed and remarked, "I live off chocolate. 'Course I got some." standing, she walked over to her backpack and pulled out a huge bag filled with various wrapped sweets. 

"Now what would you like? I've got Snickers, Nut Rageous, milk chocolate, Cookies n' Cream, Hershey kisses, and just in case I didn't want chocolate, some Starbursts and Shock Tarts."

"I've never tried half of those sweets!" Harry said excitedly, "but I've got to try some of those Shock Tarts. Dumbledore mentioned them to me."

"Bien sûr, monsieur," She said, tossing him a package

.

"These are great!" he exclaimed after trying one. Laurali just laughed and grabbed a Snickers.

Meanwhile… 

* * *

"So, now 'bout them Cannons?" Ron asked Hermione in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Hmmm…" Hermione said, not to eager to start a conversation about something she has minimal interest in. "What do you think of Laurali?"

"Well I guess she's alright. She doesn't like Quidditch though, but then again, neither do you, and I still love you all the same." He paused, and then said, "but it's weird how she didn't know about You-know-who and had never heard of Harry. What have they have been teaching at the school of hers? 

And what's with Harry? He usually tells us everything! Suddenly, he can't tell his best friends anything but has no problem sharing secrets with a complete stranger?! He's just met her and I bet he's telling her all of his secrets right now! Secrets that we don't even know!" he finished angrily, ears red with fury. 

"Ron, I know its odd and everything, but you need to calm down. Maybe he wanted to tell us but couldn't find the right time, until she asked," Hermione paused and although Ron's ears were still red, he had started to calm down. "At least we know everything now. There shouldn't be any more secrets about him that we don't know."

"Well at least about him and You-know-who," Ron said. "Merlin knows what other kinds of things he doesn't see fit to tell us..."

"I just hope that he defeats V-Voldemort, and not the other way around," Hermione said sadly, a shudder passing through her body at the thought of Harry dying. 

"You said His name!" Ron said, surprised. 

"I know. But Dumbledore's right. By avoiding saying his name is just showing him how much fear he's instilled in our lives."

"Well I guess you're right. But I wouldn't count on me saying it anytime soon."

"Take your time. So, I've been wondering...who's going to be the new prefects from Gryffindor? And what about the new Defense professor?" Hermione asked, changing the subject.

"Well we all know that you'll be a prefect," Ron said, and Hermione blushed, but Ron ignored it and continued. "And I hope we have a good Defense professor this year. We need one more now than ever before, with...You-know-who on the rise. Let's just hope it's not someone like Lockhart. What a useless teacher he was."

"Ron, I don't think that's fair."

"Face it. Lockhart, besides being a complete git, could only talk about his books and his 'accomplishments'," Ron said, using his fingers to emphasize "accomplishments".

"I think that a professor like Remus wouldn't be unbearable," Hermione said. 

"I second that. Speaking of Remus, have you heard from him or Snuffles recently?"

"No, I haven't. I bet they're really busy doing stuff for Dumbledore and...the Order." She whispered the last part while looking around to make sure no one was listening. 

"Yeah, probably. Hey! What time is it? My mom wanted us back by 7 for dinner," Ron said, looking around for a clock.

"It's about 6," Hermione said, glancing at her watch. 

"Okay. How much longer do you think Harry and Laurali are going to be? You don't think they're doing anything, do you?" Ron asked, raising his red eyebrows up and down while saying "anything."

"Ron! Harry isn't like that! But we should leave soon. Go ask Tom for Laurali's room number and we can go upstairs and get them," Hermione said. 

  
"Okay, back in a second," Ron said, heading over to the front desk. "She has room 3."

"Okay, let's go."

* * *

"You know Harry, I never did ask you. How old are you? I mean, I know you're a 5th year, but I don't actually know how old you are," Laurali said while reaching for her glass of water.

"I am officially 15 years and 1 day old," Harry said with a smirk.

"Hmm, 15 years and 1 day?" Laurali asked, putting emphasis on the end of her question.

"Yep."

"You do know you sound like a child when you say it like that, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't care."

"Right." Laur laughed lightly, and then added, "I'm 15 too, but I don't feel like figuring out how many days."

"When's your birthday?"

"July 14. Same as Bastille Day." Harry had a confused look so she added, "The French's Independence Day."

"Oh, okay. Well happy belated birthday."

"Thanks, and you too! Why don't we get out of here and go celebrate or something? I'm bored."

"So I'm boring?"

"Do you want me to answer that?" Laur asked with a laugh, but catching his glare, she added, "Nah, you're not boring. This place is boring. Let's go get Hermione and Ron and go do something fun!"

"Alright," he said with a shrug, turning for the door. Laur got up after him and grabbed her purse. 

"Hey Laur?" Harry asked quietly, several feet in front of the door. 

"Uh huh?" she said. 

"Thanks. For everything." Then, surprising them both, he wrapped her in a quick hug.  Laureli, overcoming the shock, returned the hug and before pulling away completely, she kissed him lightly on the cheek.  Not exactly something you do with people you've just met, but it seemed appropriate for the time.  

"Anytime Harry," Laur said, blushing, and Harry smiled before opening the door. Standing before them were Ron and Hermione, Ron's fist about three inches from Harry's nose. 

"Oh, hey guys. We were just about to come downstairs," Laur said from behind Harry.

"Hi," Ron said quickly, before turning to Harry. "Harry, would you mind if we talked downstairs for a second?"

"Well, what about the girls?" Harry asked. 

"Oh, they'll be fine, won't you?" Ron asked, continuing on before they actually had a chance to speak. "See? Everything's fine. Now come on." He grabbed Harry and practically dragged him down the stairs, had it not been for Harry's quick feet. 

"We'll be back shortly. You girls have fun," Ron said to the girls over his shoulder before turning the corner. Laurali watched Harry be dragged off, and just before he too rounded the corner, he shot her an apologetic look. She smiled at him and waved slightly, before turning to Hermione and saying,

"So..."

* * *

"So Harry, what happened upstairs? You seem so…cheery," Ron asked Harry once they were away from the stairs.

"Nothing Ron. We talked, ate some muggle sweets, I gave her a hug and she kissed me-"

"Man Harry, sounds like you were busy," Ron said with a smirk.

"Naw, it's not like _that_. I hugged her because of everything she'd said to me, and she just kissed me on the cheek."

"Aww, how sweet," Ron replied, his voice sounding more like Hermione's than his own.  

"Yeah, whatever. I don't know mate. She's different than the other girls we know," Harry said somewhat dreamily. "I mean, she's intelligent, for one thing.  Hermione's smart too and all, but Laur, she knows all about life.   And she's pretty, and funny, and sweet, and nice, and did I mention that she was pretty?" 

"Yeah, you did mate. And it sounds like you've got a…crush (currush)," Ron said with a sly grin.

"Ron…" Harry started, but was cut off by Ron who was singing:

Laurali and Harry,

Sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. 

First, comes love…

Ron never got to finish his "song" because Harry started to chase Ron, shouting: "Ron you little…"

Meanwhile…

* * *

"So… how 'bout them Yankees?" Laur asked Hermione in an attempt to start a conversation. To

her surprise, Hermione giggled.  Laur raised a questioning eyebrow.  

"What?" She asked.

"Oh, its nothing really. Well, actually, *giggle* Ron said something just like that earlier."

"Oh," Laur said slowly, then laughed and said, "but I'm sure it was about his favorite Quidditch team or something like that."

"Actually it was. It was about 'them cannons'." Both girls laughed appreciatively. "I went over his house last summer, and you wouldn't believe his bedroom!" Hermione said laughing. " It was completely orange, with posters of the Chudley Cannons."

Laur just chuckled. "My brother's room is the same way. Him and his snowboarding," she said while shaking her head.

"I guess boys will be boys," Hermione said.

"Yeah, that's true. No matter where you, who you're with."

"Right you are."  She girls shared another laugh, and then laughter died down to silence, where neither one knew what to say.  Laur decided to break the silence.  

"Hermione, may I ask you a question?" she asked somewhat timidly.

"Of course."

"Have you ever thought of Ron or Harry as your boyfriend?" she asked, her cheeks tinged pink with embarassment.  

"No…well yes actually," Hermione admitted. " But I realized that we were better off as friends. It would be awful if our friendship was ruined because of a bad relationship."

"Yeah, I agree. But I must admit,  I'm happy you don't _like_ like either of them."

"And why is that? Does someone have a crush? (currush)," Hermione asked jokingly.  Laurali just blushed even more and nodded her up and down.

"Really!" Hermione squealed. " Lemme guess! Harry."

"Bien sûr, mademoiselle. Je ne connais pas Ron, mais je connais Harry. Je l'aime!"

"Oh that's so cute!" Hermione exclaimed.

"You understood what I said? Even though I said it in French?" Laurali asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, I did. I speak French as well. You said, *clears throat* 'of course miss. I don't know Ron, but I know Harry. I like him.' So you do?"

"Yep," Laur said honestly. "Why? Am I not supposed to?" she asked, and then quickly said, "Zut alors! I'm so stupid! I didn't even stop to think that he could have a girlfriend!"

"Laurali! Harry is single, well at least as far as I know. It's all right for you to like him," Hermione said, hoping to calm the crazed girl.  

"Phew," Laur sighed, pretending to wipe sweat off of her forehead. " So does he like anyone?"

"I know that he did like this girl Cho for awhile, but with everything that happened last year, I don't know anymore," Hermione, and Laureli detected a sorrow note in her tone.  

"What happened last year?"

"Well it's a long story, and I don't know all of the details. I think that Harry and Dumbledore are the only ones that really do."

"Oh, okay,"  Laureli said, recognizing that Hermione really didn't want to talk about it.  Looking at her watch, she realized they were late for their meeting up with the boys.  

"This is fun and all Hermione, but I'm sure Ron is finished talking to Harry about whatever it was that was so terrbily urgent."

"Alright then, I'll walk downstairs with you." 

They walked down the stairs together, and when they reached the bottom, they stopped and stared at the scene in front of them.  Harry and Ron were running around like children, Harry screaming something to Ron and Ron was appearantly…singing. Laurali and Hermione just stood there on the steps just watching in amusement. It was a moment later when Ron looked up and stopped running immediately. Harry, not noticing ran right into Ron and started to give him a noogie. Ron just swatted Harry's hand away from his head and pointed to the girls.

"Err, hi," Harry said with as much pride as he could muster, which wasn't much at the moment.

"Now, can little Harry and Ron not behave while the big girls are away?" Laurali teased, speaking as though she were talking to some misbehaving two year olds.  

Hermione just laughed and in between giggles said, "Ron, I think that we should get back to the Burrow, its already 10 after 7." 

"Shit! Were late!" Ron swore after glancing at the grandfather clock in the room.  "Ahh, well."

"Err right." Harry said sadly. "It was nice meeting you Laurali Richardson," he said while extending his hand to Laurali. Taking the offered hand, she said, "And you Harry James Potter." 

Before she could react, Harry pulled her in for another hug. He could see Hermione smile behind him, and Laur could see Ron smirk. Stepping away from the embrace, she turned to Ron, and said, "Good to meet ya Ron." She gave him her hand, and he did the same.

Turning to Hermione, she said, "I know we'll get along. I had fun." She gave Hermione a hug and whispered. "And we know that we won't be going after the same guys." Stepping away from each other, Hermione said, "That's for sure." And both girls laughed.

"Bye Laur," Ron said, as he started to lead the group to the fireplace. He stepped into the fireplace and shouted, "The burrow!" while throwing the powder in.

Hermione left in the same manner as Ron, but gave a wave and both brunettes laughed. Now it was only Harry and Laurali left. While turning to the fireplace, he said, "Send me an owl if you come to London before September 1st. Perhaps we could hang out."

"Definitely. Bye Harry," Laurali said while nodding her head.

"Bye," he said and soon vanished.

Now, alone again, Laurali ordered a hot chocolate from Tom. Even though it was the middle of summer and extremely hot out, she still wanted one. They always made her feel better. So she took her hot chocolate and went to her room to read more of Ella Enchanted.

Laurali was leaving the next day at noon, so she had to finish all of her shopping early the next morning. She had to get a few new books and some new robes. The rest of the stuff she could purchase back in the states.

* * *

"Ronald Jonathon Weasley! What have you been doing? You were supposed to be back at 7 pm! Or have you forgotten that we have a celebration planned!" Mrs. Weasley said, rather loudly, to a red faced Ron.

"Celebration?" Ron thought aloud.

"Yes! Harry's birthday?" Mrs. Weasley said, annoyed that her son was so forgetful.  

"Oh, Mrs. Weasley, really, it's okay. You don't need to do anything for me," Harry said.

"Harry, shhh, it's okay. I, we, want to do this. You're as important to me and Arthur as any of our own children," Mrs. Weasley said, her voice taking on a motherly tone. At this comment, Harry blushed. So he was like a son to the Weasley's; it was like he belonged there. Harry didn't know what to think of all of this.

Mrs. Weasley saw Harry's face and smiled. Making Ron, Harry and Hermione jump, she said, "Well, what do you think you're doing? Go wash your hands upstairs and come back downstairs for a celebration!"

Excitedly, all three teens raced upstairs to the bathroom. Mrs. Weasley just shook her head and mumbled, "kids these days" and went into her living room to make sure everything was ready.

A few minutes later…

Harry, Hermione and Ron entered the living room for the "celebration". Hermione gasped in surprise. What they saw was the entire Weasley family, lots of decorations, many bearing the words "Happy Birthday!" written all over them, and a nice, big, 4 layer cake on the center of the living room table.

Noticing the new arrivals, Fred elbowed George in the ribs, and pointed to the trio and immediately said "Happy Birthday Harry!" Sparks came from their wands, and someone lit a firework.

Bill, Charlie, Percy, Arthur, Molly, and Ginny all then said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Jumping off from the stairs, Harry rushed forward to give them all a hug and handshake.  Then he went to his cake. His very own cake, the first one he'd ever had to celebrate with other people. As if on cue, the candles on the cake lit up, and some one started to sing.

"Happy Birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you, 

Happy birthday dear Harry,

Happy birthday to you!"

Harry happily blew out the candles, but they lit up again. With a frown, he blew them out again, but once again, they lit up. 

Laughing, Fred and George stepped forward and said, "Sorry Harry, couldn't resist mate."

Joining their laughter, Harry chuckled as well and blew them out again, just to see them light up again. Mrs. Weasley stepped forward, swished her wand around the cake, and said, "Try it again Harry. Be sure to make a wish!"

Smiling, Harry did just as he told. The candles finally blew out, and everyone clapped. Not to his surprise, Ron shouted "Now let's eat!"

"Here Harry dear, since it's your birthday, you get the honors," Mrs. Weasley said, handing him a knife.

"You mean, cut the cake?" Harry asked, not quite sure what she meant by 'honors'.

"Of course! It's tradition!" Arthur said, stepping forward.

"Alright then," Harry said, and then he cut the cake.

That night, everyone ate plenty of cake, talked, laughed, and even danced to the twins' radio.

AN: I know! It's long! I'm hoping for the next chapter to be up by the end of the weekend. But you'll have to wait and see. NOW REVIEW!


	13. 13Back in the States

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1AN: I'm back! Yay for you I guess. Umm... So I Just wanted to thank you guys for all the reviews! KEEP 'EM COMIN! And I also wanted to say that if you would like to criticize, please do, but if you could do it in a less harsh fashion. So yeah, less harsh reviews would be appreciated so I don't feel like I need to get in a bitch mode. Not exactly my favorite thing to do. So anyways, here's another long chapter! And don't forget to REVIEW!                                                                                    

*~~~Chapter 13. Back in the States~~~*

"Thank you so much for everything Tom," Laurali said to Tom as she was leaving shortly to go back home.

"Oh it was nothing Miss. Richardson. Anytime you feel like coming back, I'll be here with a room waiting for you," Tom said politely.

"Of course. Well, thank you. I received the bill, and I paid at the bar. I really must be off."

"Thank you. Enjoy your trip," he said with a bow.

"Good bye," Laurali said and, grabbing all of her shopping bags and backpack, she headed for the fireplace.

"Salem Witch's Institute!" she bellowed and vanished into the smoke.  

Stepping out of the fireplace, she saw her mother and Headmistress Lim, the headmistress of Salem. Her mother stepped forward and pulled Laurali into a hug.

"I was so worried!" she cried.

"Mom. Shhh. It's okay. I'm okay. Why were you so worried?"

"You never owled me, saying you were all right, or anything."

Laur had to think back to the previous morning, when she was so anxious to leave for London. Her mother had told her to make sure that she contacted her once she got to London.  With all  the excitement, Laurali had forgotten.

"Oh Mom! I'm so sorry! I was so busy I forgot all about it!" Laur cried.

"Well, you're safe. That's all that matters," Samantha said, relieved.

Remembering her manners, Laurali turned to Mrs. Lim and said, "Hello Mrs. Lim. Thank you for letting me use the fireplace."

"Oh it's not problem Miss Richardson. You know me, I always love to help my students."

"Well thank you." Laur paused, and hesitantly said, "Umm, Mrs. Lim, could I ask you a favor?"

"Of course."

"Okay, well I was realizing how far away Hogwarts is from my house, and so I was hoping that I could send letters for my family here via Floo network, and then my owl could receive them."

Mrs. Lim took a moment to think about this and then said, "Of course. But may I ask, how is your family going to send _you_ letters?"

"Well," Laur started slowly, "I haven't really thought about that yet, but I did think that maybe our owl, Sonata could bring them to Danielle, and she could Floo them to me at Hogwarts."

"I guess that could work. Okay, my answer is yes. I will allow it," she answered with a smile.

"Oh! Thank you so much Mrs. Lim!" Laur said happily and hugged her former headmistress.

"Thank you Mrs. Lim. You are too kind," Samantha said graciously as she gave the other women a handshake.

"Alright then. Well if you'll excuse me, I must attend a meeting," Mrs. Lim said, exiting the room.  

"Good day," Laurali said in a cheery tone.

"Let's go home," Samantha said once Mrs. Lim was out of the room. 

"Agreed," Laurali said, and led her mother out of the room.

* * * *

Harry was outside, on the hill in the meadow. He was thinking about the previous day. It had been such a great day. He left the Dursley's, went to Diagon Alley, met a beautiful girl like no other, had an _actual_ birthday party, and even flew on his Firebolt when everyone was asleep. But he couldn't help but have the feeling that he was missing something. Ahh well, he was thinking about Laurali. Her smile, her beautiful hair, her eyes, and now that he thought about her, he remembered that she had kissed him. 

Unconsciously, he placed his fingertips over the spot where she had kissed him. Then he thought about when he last hugged her.

_"It was nice meeting you Laurali Richardson."_

_"And you Harry James Potter." She said with a smile._

Blinking his eyes from the memory in his head, he realized that he had never told her that his middle name was "James".

Running to the house, he ran up the stairs right outside of Ginny's bedroom, where Hermione was sure to be. 

'Perhaps she told Laurali that my middle name was "James". But wait, I don't think that Hermione even knew that. Sure, Ron and Hermione are my best friends, but middle names are something that's never come up. Of course, last night I just found out that Ron's middle name was "Jonathon".'

Slowly stepping away from Ginny's bedroom door, he walked up the rest of the stairs to Ron's room to take a nap. Maybe he was just so tired that he wasn't thinking straight.

* * * *

"So what happened in London?" Samantha asked her daughter as she turned onto the highway.

"Oh, well, first I got a room at the Leaky Cauldron, and then I went to the bank."

"The bank? What was wrong with the money that I gave you?" 

"Oh, nothing. I just needed to exchange my American money for European wizard money. So I went to the bank and I was waited on by a goblin-"

"A goblin?"

"Yes, a goblin. A goblin named… Merlin, no, wait, it was Melvin. Yes. Melvin. So after the bank, I went back to The Leaky Cauldron, ate some food, read some of Ella Enchanted, and then Professor Dumbledore showed up."

"What did you eat for lunch?"

"Chicken fingers, _freedom_ fries and a lemonade."

"Laurali Richardson," her mother said sternly.  

"Yes Mama?" Laurali asked as innocently as she could.

"I thought I told you that I wanted you to eat more healthy."

"I _did_ have lemonade. Not soda."

"Do you realize how much sugar is in lemonade?

"So? Would you rather me order some alcohol? You know, I don't think there's a drinking age in England."

"Laurali. There is no way in hell that I would allow my daughter to drink alcohol."

"Damn, calm down Mom. You know I wouldn't drink. I was just kidding."

"Yeah, fine. If I find out that you ever, _ever_ drink, I'd take away your driving permit for an entire _month_."

"Mom, I don't have my permit. Only 15. Remember?"

"Yes, I know that you're only 15, but a law was just passed last week. You can get your permit at 15, and license at 16."

"I can get my permit!" Laurali sang, and did a little dance in her seat. "Okay! So what are we waiting for? After lunch, we're going to the RMV to get the drivers manual so I can pass that test!"

"Laurali, honey. Calm down. We can't go today."

"What? Why not!" Laurali asked angrily.

"Because the registry isn't open on weekends."

"Fine. Monday then?"

"Deal. But you do realize that we won't have much time for lessons or anything because you'll be at Hogwarts."

"Oh yeah. Lessons and classes are mandatory, huh?"

"Yep."

"Okay, what if I took the class before I go to Hogwarts. It's only 2 weeks, right?"

"Yeah. How do you know so much about all of this?" Samantha asked.

"Oh, right. Well after my birthday, I did some research online." Laurali said while shrugging her shoulders

"Okay, yes, so continue."

"Oh right, I take the class before I go to Hogwarts, and I can practice with you anytime I'm home. And I can take the driving lessons during my breaks, and when I come home for summer vacation."

"Sounds fine to me, but you may have to take the class on one of your breaks. But, we first need to make sure your father agrees.

"Alright," Laur said cheerfully.

Moments later, they pulled into their driveway. Being all excited, Laurali jumped out of the car, grabbed her stuff and ran inside. Samantha, who was taking her time, shook her head and mumbled, "Kids these days…"

For the afternoon, Laurali had Danielle come over. They go bored easily and so after Laurali told her friend that she was going to get her permit within the next week, the two girls went swimming.

Laurali was lucky to have a nice big pool in her back yard, so that's where the girls went swimming. 

"So tell me, how was London?" Danielle asked while jumping into a big tube.

"Fine," Laur answered before diving into the pool. Danielle waited for her friend to come back up to the surface then threw a small plastic ball at her.

"Ahhhhh! What?!" Laur said forcefully. 

Something happened. Tell me," Danielle said.

"Nothing happened," Laur said. Again, Danielle threw a ball at her.

"You're lying. C'mon Laur. Tell me," Danielle said, pleadingly.

"Fine! Fine!" Laur said in surrender, throwing her arms up. Not being on a tube, she started to sink towards the bottom of the pool due to lack of balance. She hadn't taken swimming lessons for nothing, though, and forced herself to the surface and swam for her own tube.

"Alright, I'll tell you," she said softly.

"Damn right you will!" Danielle said as she splashed her way to Laur.

"I met a guy."

"Ohh…So is he cute? What's he like?" Danielle said bouncing up and down.

"Damn… down girl!" Laurali said, seeing how her friend was acting. "His name is Harry James Potter."

"Cute name."

"I guess."

"He told you his middle name the first day he met you?"

"Actually, no, now that you mention it. I don't know- it seems weird. I mean, I feel like I know him, we connected so well."

"That's cute. In a weird, freaky way."

"Yeah, whatever. So we first saw each other at the bank when I was talking to Melvin-"

"Melvin? What in their right mind would name their child 'Melvin'?" Danielle asked, interrupting.

"A goblin."

"A goblin?" Danielle asked.

"Goblins run the wizard bank, Gringotts."

"Ohhh," was all that was said once realization sunk in.

"Yeah. So we first saw each other at the bank, and were introduced by Professor Dumbledore," Laurali explained, before launching into full-blown story mode, retelling the events of the day to her friend.

* * * *

Harry was dreaming. This dream started with his mom pleading with Voldemort, then worked its way to the graveyard, and then last but not least, Lucius Malfoy with his wand pointed at Laurali's pretty face. 

Malfoy was threatening Laurali to turn evil, and become a Death Eater or she'd die a most painful death. Laurali, to Harry's amazement smiled and said calmly, in an almost seductive tone,

"Aww, come now Lucius, you know that you can't resist me, you'd never be able to kill me."

Harry was floating off to a blur. With his head pounding, he woke with a start.

"NO! It can't be true!" he screamed, feeling the need to break something.

"What can't be true?" Hermione asked as she ran into Ron's room after hearing Harry's screams.

"My dream- I- I need to talk to Laurali," Harry stuttered.

"Oh. I have an idea!" She said while dragging Harry out of the room.

"Hermione, this is important! I need to talk to her!" Harry insisted as he was being dragged into Ginny's room. "What are we doing?! We're wasting time! I think Laur is in trouble!" he said as Hermione kneeled on the floor, searching through her trunk.

"What do you mean, Harry?" she said, slowly getting to her feet.

"I just had a dream that Lucius Malfoy was pointing his wand, threatening her! C'mon! We need to talk to her!"

"Harry, does your scar hurt?"

"No," he said while placing his fingertips over his scar.

"Then I think you were just having a nightmare. I'm sure Lucius Malfoy doesn't even know Laurali exists."

"I don't care! I want to talk to her!" he said yelling, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Well yelling at me isn't going to help at all, to let you know!" Hermione yelled back, putting her hands on her hips.

"I-want-to-talk-to-her-now!" Harry said quickly, anger rising in him.  Why didn't Hermione understand how important this was?

"Fine. I had an idea about that anyways." With this, she pulled out three pieces of parchment, and the charms book from last year. Handing Harry one piece of parchment, she said, "Write her a message on this. It doesn't need to be long though, because I am such a genius."

"And what are you a genius for?" Harry asked dangerously. She glared at him.  "You gotta a pen or quill or something?" he asked looking around.

"Oh yeah. Here. Sorry," she said while handing him a pen. "What we're going to do is charm these other two pieces of parchment. They'll be like e-mail. Sort of."

"I don't understand. How will that help me talk to Laur?"

"Because you'll have one, she'll have the other." She said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You write her a message on your parchment, and she'd receive it on hers instantly. More like instant messaging. I do it with a few muggle friends whenever I'm home. That's where I got the idea."

"Oh," Harry said as realization kicked in. "But what's the charm we'll use? And who will we have perform it?"

"Well, I'm not sure what the charm will be yet, just give me a second," Hermione said as she flipped through her book, obviously having memorized it.  "Ahh, here it is! Okay, so what we have to do is have the pieces of parchment next to each other, and with a swish and flick movement, say _'reparle talka.'_  Sounds easy."

  
"Yeah it does. So the parchments will glow green if the charm is done correctly, right?"

"Yep. Now let's ask someone to do it."

"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded. "Right, let's go."

Downstairs, they saw Mrs. Weasley preparing dinner.

'What time is it? It must be later than I thought,' Harry thought.

"Mrs. Weasley, could you do something for us please?"

"Sure, dear. Just as long as it's not dangerous. Now what is it?" she asked grabbing an onion to cut.

"Well..." said Hermione and Harry, as they told Mrs. Weasley what they needed. She thought it was a great idea, and would be more than happy to help. So a few minutes later, Harry sent Hedwig to the United States of America with a short note, and one of the pieces of parchment.

* * * *

Laurali was just getting out of a relaxing bath when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

"Who is it?" she asked while putting on a bathrobe.

"Who do you think?" a squeaky male voice said.

"What do you want, Jay?" Laurali said, opening the door.

"Well, I just came to tell you there was an owl downstairs, but if you're going to be a bitch, I'll just leave," the boy said.

"No wait! Where is it?" Laur asked trying to remain calm, rather than rip the pipsqueaks head off like she really wanted to.

"Downstairs in the kitchen."

"Thanks Jay. I'll be down in a minute."

"Yeah, whatever," he said and walked out of the room.

"Damn, his voice is so annoying! It better finish changing and soon!" Laur thought while putting on some pj's and heading downstairs.

"Hi dad. Jay told me I had an owl," she told her father, who was reading the paper. 

"You did. She's in the kitchen with your mother. It's such a beautiful creature," he said while flipping the page.

"Thanks," she said and thought, "Who would be owling me?" 

While walking into the kitchen, she saw her mother sitting down next to a package, and a beautiful white owl. 

"She looks so much like Sonata," Samantha said.

"Yes she does. My letter?" Laur asked her mother, who just pointed to the package.

Picking it up she noticed unfamiliar handwriting with her name on the front of the parcel. Opening the note, she read:

_"Dear Laurali, _

_I just had an awful dream about you (not dirty, don't worry!)."_  

 Laur laughed at this and continued reading. __

_"But I had to make sure you were alright. With this short letter, I attached another piece of parchment. Hermione said it should work like email or instant messaging, or something like that.  Just write something on it and I'll receive it._

_-Harry_

"Well who is it from?" Sam asked.

"One of the people that I met in London. Could I have a pen please?" she replied while opening up the parchment. There was already a message waiting for her:

_"Please tell me you're alright, Laur. –HP"_

"'Course I'm fine. Should I not be? –LR"

_"Thank Merlin! It was just a dream. –HP"_

"Harry, what are you talking about? –LR"

_"I had a dream that you were threatened to turn evil or you'd die a most painful death…I wasn't sure if it was reality or a nightmare. –HP"_

"The latter. Plus I'd never turn evil. Evil people are usually ugly. –LR"

_"I'm just so happy that you're alright. – HP"_

****

"Yeah, well I am, too. So what are you doing? – LR"

They spent a lot of that night and many others "conversing". Each night, they got to know each other, little by little, and everyday, the two were growing closer than before, and liking each other more and more.

Along with her nightly "conversations" with Harry, Laurali went to the beach, to the movies, having fun with her friends that she'd known for a long time, before she had to leave for Hogwarts.  Secretly, she hoped they would throw her a going-away party, but they showed no signs of doing so, so she let it go.

A few days before Laurali was supposed to leave, Danielle surprised her with a nice, little party. Laur had so much fun with all of her oldest friends that she hoped the night wouldn't end, but all good things must come to an end. That night was the last time that Danielle and Laurali were going to see each other for a long time, so after everyone left the party, Danielle slept over Laur's house. They never went to sleep, but they talked about all the good times that they had had with each other. In the morning, when Danielle's mom came to pick her up, the girls hugged each other for at least 10 minutes before they broke away.

"Never change, Danielle. You're a great person. You don't need to change."

"Don't you even think about changing Laur," Danielle warned. Then they hugged each other again, each with tears in their eyes.

"Honey, c'mon. We have to go," Danielle's mom said gently.  

"Bye Laur. Owl me or whatever!" Danielle said while walking to her car, waiting until she had her back to her friend before wiping away her tears. 

"Don't worry! I will! Bye hon!" Laur said with a teary smile, and walked inside her house, lest she should start bawling in broad daylight.  

"Laurali, what do you say we go out for lunch and take a little trip to the RMV?" her mom asked, knowing it would cheer her up a little.  

"Are you serious?" Laur asked. Her mother just nodded and smiled. "I'll grab my purse and let's go."

So Laur got her driver's permit and passed the test with flying colors.

"I mean, really, how stupid do they think people are?" She was saying an hour or so later. "Listen to one of the questions I was asked: 'If you're going to make a left-hand turn, which lane should you be in?'"

Samantha laughed as she was preparing to make a left-hand turn into a big, empty parking lot

"Mom, what are we doing here?"

"Well, I thought that you'd want to learn the basics first," Samantha said, turning off the engine.  

"The basics?" Laur asked.

"To driving, but if you'd rather wait, that's fine," She started, turning the car back on.

"No! I want to drive!" Laur said, undoing her seatbelt, and opening the door, she ran over to the driver's side. She spent the rest of the day with her mother in the parking lot, learning to drive while nearly giving her mother a heart attack at least twice.  

A/N: Don't you wish that we really could get our permits at 15 and licenses at 16? (Mass. readers) REVIEW!


	14. 14Surprises

AN: I didn't get as many reviews as I wanted for the last chapter L But w/e that's alright, because I have way too much crap going on to get all sad about not getting all that many reviews. So on with the chapter:

*~~~Chapter 14: Surprises~~~*

"Mom I'm going to miss you so much!" Laurali cried to her mother on the eve of August 31st. They were back at Salem Witches Institute, making good use of the Floo-connected fireplace. The only ones present for Laurali's departure were Laurali of course, Samantha, and Mr. Richardson, or Bob, as he liked to be called. 

"You can always come home. We'll always be here for you," Sam said, with tears in her eyes.

"That's right," Bob said. "But we'd like you to give it a try for a few months. Then you can come back if you decide you'd rather be here." The clock struck 5 p.m. (AN: I don't know the time zone differences so I'm making this up!)

"I have to leave now," Laur said, tears running down her cheeks. She lifted her trunk and walked forward to the fireplace. She stopped for one last hug and a kiss from her parents.

"I love you," she said to each of them. They responded the same.

"Be careful, eat healthy, and write a lot!" Sam said before she pusher her daughter to the fireplace.

"Bye! I'll be home for Christmas," Laurali said, waving to her parents. Then she threw the Floo powder down and yelled "The Leaky Cauldron!"

Once again, Laur stumbled out of the fireplace. She dusted the ashes and soot off of herself as best as she could and then walked up to the bar.

"Good evening Miss Richardson," Tom greeted as Laur sat down on a nearby stool.

"Hi Tom. Is there any chance of an available room?"

"Room #3 is free," he said, taking a quick glance behind him at a list on the wall.

"Great. Thanks." Then she looked around and saw that the pub was awfully busy. "Tell you what Tom. It looks like you're quite busy here, so I can walk myself up to room #3."

"Thank you Miss Richardson. That would be very helpful," he said, offering her the key.

As she was walking up the stairs, she saw the French boy that had talked to her a few weeks ago, on her last visit here, coming down the stairs. Laur looked the other way while walking past him and them almost ran to her room.

Walking in, she thought 'Just as I left it'. And then she took a nice long, relaxing shower.  

An hour later, Laurali was showered, dressed, and relaxing in front of the fireplace. She was debating with herself whether or not she should ask Tom for a hot chocolate. Finally realizing that she had nothing better to do, going downstairs wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Walking down the last steps, she thought that she had heard Harry's voice. Listening closely, she waited to hear it again, but she didn't. 'Wishful thinking' she told herself.

"A hot chocolate with whipped cream please," she asked a middle-aged witch who was at the counter.

"Here you go miss," she said, handing Laur her order.

"Charge it to room 3 please."

"Consider it done."

"Thanks." Walking away, she heard a quite familiar voice say, "Do you realize that it's summer and you just ordered hot chocolate?"

Turning around, she saw bright green eyes, messy hair, round glasses, and a bright smile.

"Well, I find it comforting," she said and then laughed. "Hey Harry."

"Hi," Harry responded.

"So, why are you here?" Laur asked with curiosity.

"Well, me, the Weasley's and Hermione are here, so we can take the Knight Bus to Kings Cross tomorrow morning."

"Ah."

"And you?"

"Well I decided that it wouldn't be too good for me to go to a new school all sooty. It wouldn't make the best first impression, so I came tonight." 

"Good idea."

"I thought so."

"So how are your parents coping with the fact that their little girl is studying in a far away land?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well, right before we were leaving, my mama was crying, although then again, so was I.  My father really didn't seem all that upset to see me leaving though.  But that's because I'm not nearly as close to him as I am to mama."

"Oh, well at least you have me," He said with a grin.

"I do, don't I?" she responded with an identical grin.

"So what room are you staying in?"

"Same as before.  Number 3."

"Okay, well if you want, I can come visit you before I go to bed."

"Maybe," Laur said with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Okay, well I have to go check in my room. Ron and me are sharing room number 12. Hermione and Ron's little sister, Ginny are in, I think, room #8."

"Oh, okay. Well I'll visit them later."

"You do that."

"I will," Laur said with a grin.

"You know, we still haven't gone out for our birthday."

"No we haven't."

"I say we go get some ice cream or something."

"Hmm," Laur said thinking, "Hot chocolate and ice cream will be nice," she said with a laugh.

"You are strange, you know."

"But that's why everyone loves me!" Laur replied, still laughing.

"Too true," Harry said with a grin.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go get Ron and Hermione and go out for ice cream!" Laur said after a moment of silence.

"Well, I was sort of hoping that it could be just the two of us. But if you really want them to-"

"No, it's alright. Let's go," Laur said, putting her purse over her shoulder, her mug of hot chocolate in one hand, and dragging Harry out the door.

"You know, it's strange." Harry started once they had gotten their ice cream and started to walk around.

"What is?" Laur asked.

"It feels like I've known you forever. Yet we only met a few weeks ago. It's just strange."

"Well maybe we were destined to meet so it feels so natural to be around each other."

"Do you really believe that we have no control over lives?"

"I didn't say that. But now that I think of it, maybe, maybe not. The way that I see it, we all have a purpose in life. Some of us don't know what it is yet. You're one of those people who know what their purpose is."

"So you're saying that the only reason I exist is to defeat Voldemort?"

"Well, maybe," she said quietly.

"I can't, and I won't believe that the only reason I exist is to kill some ugly son of a bitch!" he said forcefully.

"That's not what I said. So don't get all mad at me," Laur said, speeding up and walking ahead of Harry.

"Laurali!" Harry called behind her.  "Look, I'm sorry," he said once he caught up to her.  "But there has to be more to my destiny, because I wasn't the only one that could kill Voldemort. He just picked me."

"What do you mean Harry?"

"When I was about a year old, a prophecy was made. It basically said that the only wizard who could defeat Him was a boy born at the end of July, whose parents have defied him three times. There were two options, me, and other kid in Gryffindor. His name was"-

"Hiya Harry!" a chubby boy their age said, running up to them.

"Oh, hi Neville. Neville, this is Laurali Richardson. She's an American transfer student; she'll be in Gryffindor with us. Laur, this is Neville Longbottom," Harry said, making introductions.

"Hi," Laur greeted.

"Hello," Neville said with a slight blush.

"So what brings you here Neville?" Laur asked.

"Well. I'm here with my Gran for a celebration."

"Oh, that's always cool. What are you celebrating?" Laur asked curiously.

"This." And he pulled out a shiny prefect badge.

* * * 

Hermione, Ron and Ginny were playing Exploding Snap when a Hogwarts owl came and dropped a letter for Hermione.

"Oh my God," Hermione said, reading the letter and fainting.

"Hermione!" Ron and Ginny yelled.

"Mom!" Ron yelled, running for his mother to revive his friend.

"Ronald Jonathon Weasley! What are you trying to do? There is no need-What happened?" she asked, running to Hermione.

"She go this letter, read it, and fainted," Ginny explained.

"Enervate." Mrs. Weasley cast the charm on the girl. Hermione was slowly opening her eyes and said, "Was it a dream?"

"No? What happened?" Ron asked bluntly.

"Look at this!" Hermione said, handing them her letter.

"'Dear Miss Hermione Granger,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to be a Gryffindor prefect. Please take this position seriously. Enclosed is a list of your duties and names of 6th and 7th year prefects.

Congratulations, 

Headmaster Dumbledore'"

"Hermione's a prefect! Hermione's a prefect!" Ron sang, but then thought of something. "Who do you think the other fifth year Gryffindor prefect is?"

"I don't know. Could it be Harry?"

"It's possible. You never know though."

"How about we don't worry about that now and celebrate?"

"Celebrate how?" Ginny asked.

"Well, we can get a bunch of food and play music?" Hermione suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, leaving the room.

"Where is Harry?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him for about an hour." Hermione said warily.

"You don't think something has happened to him, do you?" Ron asked.

"You mean…. Here? Now? I don't think so. Do you?" Hermione asked Ron.

"What's with the 21 questions?" Ginny asked, rather loudly. "Why don't you just ask Tom if he's seen Harry." Before any one could say anything about everything, Hermione and Ron were out the door.

Panting slightly, they approached the bar.

"Excuse me Tom. I, we were wondering if you have seen Harry lately," Ginny asked behind them politely.

"The last time I saw him was about 40 minutes ago."

"Do you know where he went?" Ron asked.

"To 'celebrate', with a pretty Miss Richardson_. So much like her father, that girl_." 

Not sure whether they heard the last part right, the 3 teens exited the building and went to look for Harry and the "pretty Miss Richardson".

~ ~ ~ ~

"You're-You're a prefect?" Harry stuttered.

"I know it's a shock, I fainted when I read my letter," Neville said.

"No, it's not that, it's just that I never thought of you as-"

"As a prefect." Neville finished. "And for some reason, that's okay with me. Dumbledore sent me the letter yesterday. He admitted that he never thought of me as one either. But he and McGonogall thought that being a prefect, I can feel more confident with myself and do better in school."

"Good for you, Neville." Laurali congratulated. "I'm not sure who or what a prefect is or what they do, but I have confidence in you."

"Thanks," Neville said, blushing once again. " I got to go, my Gran is waiting for me. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Laur and Harry said, simultaneously. 

"There they are!" a distant voice cried, turning around, Laur saw Ron, Hermione and a girl with red hair. The trio started to run towards Harry and Laur.

"Harry," Hermione panted, "Where…where have you been?"

"Out with Laurali, to celebrate out birthdays," He answered, nervously. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but do you have any idea what we were thinking?" Ginny asked. Harry shook his head "no" down at a wall that was past her ear.

"Stop acting like you're guilty of something," Laurali whispered.

"Sorry guys, but I haven't a clue to what you're talking about." Harry said, somewhat truthfully. 

"You prat!" Ron said, speaking for the first time. "You left without telling any of us where you were going, didn't even leave a note. That usually gives someone reason to be worried.  Especially when it's you and what's happened in the past!"

"What does the past have to do with anything?" Laurali asked, confused.

"Everything," Ginny answered.

"Oh, Well I'm Laurali," Laur introduced herself to Ginny.

"Ginny Weasley."

"More specifically, You-Know-Who is reorganizing his death eaters," Hermione whispered.

"'You-Know-Who'? You don't mean Voldemort, do you?" Laurali answered. Hermione, Ron and Ginny all shuddered.

"Shhhhh," Ron said.

"So why should just Harry be worried about it? And why are you three so frightened of a name?"

"Because He wants me dead," Harry answered simply. "But what else is new?"

"Right. Is this another one of those long stories?"

"Yep," Hermione answered.

"But don't get too keen of the idea of knowing everything, you probably wouldn't want to know afterwards," Ginny said.

"So what were you two doing?" Ron asked, with a grin.

"Like I said, we went out to celebrate our birthdays," Harry said, annoyed with Ron's attitude.

"Wasn't your birthdays in July?" Ron asked.

"Well we realized that we never got a chance to celebrate our birthdays like we wanted to, so here we are," Laur said.

"So you have a coffee mug in your hand?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

"I had hot chocolate."

"In the summer?"

"It's relaxes me. What's with the 21 questions?"

"Hey! Ginny said that earlier!" Hermione said.

"So?" Laur asked. " I know a lot of people who say it."

"People don't say it around here so often," Harry said.

"Well in like 20 minutes, two people did," Hermione said, "It's strange."

"Whatever." Laurali said.

"Okay, so we ran into Neville today," Harry said, changing subjects.

"Oh, how is Neville? I haven't talked to him since June," Hermione asked.

"Good. He was here celebrating."

"Celebrating for what?" Ginny asked.

"The fact that he's a prefect," Laur answered.

"Neville's a prefect?" Ron asked bluntly.

"Yeah, I guess so." Harry answered. "I wonder who the other Gryffindor prefect is…"

"You'll know sooner or later," Ginny said.

"Neville, a prefect? I never thought that I'd be working alongside him," Hermione said, nonchalantly.

"You mean, you're the other prefect?" Harry asked.

"YEP!" 

"Congratulations girly!" Laurali said, smiling.

"Girly huh?" Harry said.

"You got a problem with girly Mr. Nutsy?" Laurali said pretending to act all tough.

"And what if I did?" Harry said, mimicking the others acting.

"How about I get a hug?" Hermione asked.

"That works!" Harry said and gave his best friend a hug. 

"Hey! Don't leave me out!" Ron cried and hugged both Harry and Hermione.

"What about me?" Ginny asked, and ran to the group hug. Laurali just stood there, looking at the people in front of her all hugging each other. She was realizing that no matter how hard she tried; she'd never know them as well as they knew each other. And she was okay with it.

AN: Okay, another chapter done. To be honest, this isn't my most favorite chapter, but this is how I'm going to leave it for now.  

 If anyone has suggestions that they would like me to consider, please, by all means, let me know. And as always, REVIEW!


	15. Tidbits for the future AN

AN: Hey guys. I have an excuse. I promise. Right now, I'm actually at my high school writing this, so I can't have the next chapter up for awhile. At first, I was extremely busy with dance, driving lessons, school and stuff, but now, my computer is busted. My dad actually has to rebuild my entire computer. So in this chapter, I'll just tell some things that you can look forward to.

The next couple of chapters:

1. The "gang" all go back to Hogwarts, where the train ride itself will be eventful. 

2. Laurali meets Snape, oh that will be much fun. 

3. Laur gets to meet with Dumbledore to talk about her future at Hogwarts and why people think that her father is a wizard. 

4. Laur shares some family history with her new friends and why she didn't attend Hogwarts when she was first accepted.

5. Laur gets homesick, so she travels around the castle by herself meeting some other people. 

6. Laur makes some friends that Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny never would. (I'm not telling until that time comes! SORRY!) 

7. Harry, Ron and Hermione do something special for Laurali for the Thanksgiving that she is missing back at home. 

8. Fun activities that Laur helps plan. Some may have been done before, but I'm making it my own. 

9. Some people will go on dates and have boyfriends/girlfriends. 

10. Christmas holidays, maybe Danielle will visit for a little while. 

That's all I'm going to say as of now. Again, I am really, really sorry for the late delay. It's been almost 2 months I believe since I have last posted. As soon as I can, I'll have the next chapters up and running. But until that time, you can imagine what will happen with these little things that I have told you.

Again, I love to receive reviews, but in the past, I have had some harsh ones, I believe that people call them flames or something. I am open to any suggestions, questions, and advice that any readers may have. In the harsh reviews that I have received, none of them offered any suggestions of things that could be better. I can't make my story any better if unsatisfied readers don't suggest ways that it could be fixed. So if you have advice for me, I won't know what it is unless you tell me.

And I am so excited for The Prisoner Of Azkaban! It was my favorite book! yay!

Lauren


	16. 15 Summer Ends

AN: Guess what every one! My computer is fixed! Of course all of the files I had were deleted so now I get to retype this chapter! Fun, fun, fun. So obviously I could not update due to technical difficulties. I was also extremely busy with school, dance, Driver's Ed, and enjoying my summer. So I want to say happy summer to all of my readers, and enjoy this chapter! I planned to have this chapter rather long, so we'll see how long it is.   
  
(Oh, and if you are looking for a great place to go to and have fun and be tourists, go to Montreal Canada! That place is so much fun. And crepes with chocolate and strawberries are the best. Mind you, don't eat them extremely fast before you go for a long, 7 hour drive, you tend to feel carsick!)   
  
Chapter 15. Summer Ends   
  
"You really should eat something," Harry told Laur the next morning at breakfast.   
  
"I'm not hungry," was the reply. "What if everyone hates me?"   
  
"Why would they hate you?" Harry asked gently. "Ron, Hermione and Ginny don't."   
  
"Because I'm muggleborn and American and a transfer student!" she exclaimed. "That's three things!" Laur held up four fingers to exaggerate point. "Plus, I'm freaking out so much that I can't even flipping count!"   
  
"Relax," Harry said, putting her hand down and held it for a moment before releasing it.   
  
"Well, I'm still not hungry," the American teen said stubbornly. "And I never usually eat breakfast so I don't think I will now."   
  
"Well, you won't be able to eat another meal until the feast tonight," he said, taking a bite of his own breakfast: scrambled eggs and grits.   
  
"If it makes you happy and keeps me from starving, I'll get some toast or something small like that," she said, even more stubbornly.   
  
"Okay, well do you need to go anywhere before we leave? We're actually running ahead of schedule. That's a first," Harry said once Laur got some toast.   
  
Laur sat there nibbling on her toast thinking if she needed to get anything. "I did need to go to Gringotts. Would it be open yet? It's only 9:30."   
  
"I bet. I doubt those goblins ever sleep."   
  
"Okay, well after you finish your breakfast, we can go," she said as she took another bite of her toast.   
  
"'Vell, 'vell, 'vell," a voice with a thick French accent said behind them. Turning around, Laurali saw the boy with the French accent that talked to her back in August. (Go figure)   
  
"Peux-je vous aider?" Laur asked as Harry sat there in disbelief. He obviously had no clue what she was saying.   
  
"Bon matin mademoiselle. J'espérais que vous m'accompagneriez," he said in a charming manner.   
  
"Vous accompagne où?"   
  
"To Hogwarts," he said it as if that was the most obvious thing.   
  
"Et pourquoi dois-j'aller avec vous au lieu d'Harry?"   
  
"Parce que, deux gens qui sont aussi beau que nous sommes devons aller avec l'autre."   
  
Laur suddenly burst out laughing. Once she sobered, she said, "Hmm..." as if thinking. "Let me think." She waited another second then said, "Thought about it, decided," she laughed. "NO." Then she stood up, grabbed her purse, saw that Harry was done and said, "Let's go, Harry." Harry was still trying to comprehend what he just witnessed.   
  
"What was that may I ask?" Harry asked as soon as they stepped outside.   
  
"That French kid just wanted me to 'accompany him to Hogwarts'," she explained.   
  
"He goes to Hogwarts? Since when?"   
  
"Wait," she stopped suddenly. "You've never seen him?" she questioned. "Because that is the third time I have seen him in less than two months and I have only been here twice."   
  
"Well maybe he's a new student. Like you," Harry said, glancing at Laur who started walking again.   
  
"That could be right. He was here when I took my placement test with Dumbledore."   
  
"Yeah, maybe," Harry said. "So you can speak French?" He asked, breaking any tension.   
  
"Yeah, not fluently, just a little."   
  
"That's better than nothing. So what else did he say?"   
  
"He said, 'two people as beautiful/handsome as we are should be with each other.' What a tool," Laur said frowning. Then they continued walking in silence to the wizard's bank.   
  
"Oh I wonder if Melvin is here!" Laur exclaimed suddenly as they reached the doors.   
  
"Melvin?" Harry questioned out loud.   
  
"He's a cute little goblin that works here," Laur explained smiling.   
  
"Is he any cuter than me?" Harry asked while holding back a grin.   
  
"Of course not. How could you compete with a little goblin?" Laur said giggling.   
  
"Let me meet this 'cute little goblin'," Harry said rolling his emerald eyes. "What did you say his name was?"   
  
"Melvin."   
  
Harry burst out laughing. "Who-" laughs "in their-" more laughter "right mind names their kid Melvin?" this time he didn't hold back and laughed for all it was worth.   
  
"A goblin. I don't find it funny." She said frowning, while trying her hardest to laugh along too. It was a little humorous. "Now be nice, if you keep laughing, the mean little goblins will toss you out."   
  
"I'll try," Harry said, trying to hold back his laughter.   
  
"Good boy. " Laur said approvingly smiling and patted Harry's head as if patting a dog. The girl suddenly excitedly pointed. "Look! I think that's him!"   
  
She briskly but gracefully walked up to Melvin's counter. "Good morning Melvin," she said sweetly. Startled, he looked up from whatever he was working on.   
  
"Hello miss. What can I do for you?" Melvin asked. Showing that he didn't remember Laurali, her excitement level fell almost immediately. She nonetheless converted her American money into galleons, knuts, and sickles for any trips to the village that Hermione had told her about. While they were leaving, Melvin said, "Thank you for doing business with us again miss."   
  
Happy once again, Laur said, "Any time." During the transaction, Harry stood back watching the girl that he as slowly beginning to have feelings for.   
  
"C'mon! We have to leave now if you don't want to miss the train!" Mrs. Weasley was saying to all the children.   
  
With her she was taking: Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione and Laurali to King's Cross. Laurali had met Mrs. Weasley the night before when Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Laurali came in from walking around Diagon Alley. Laurali took an instant liking to Mrs. Weasley and she deeply reminded Laurali of an extremely motherly woman. She made sure that each child had everything that they had come with. This clearly would mean that they had everything they needed for school and that nothing would be left behind.   
  
Hermione had informed Laurali that morning that they were planning to take the Knight Bus to the station. Laurali had no idea what the Knight Bus was, but by its title, she guessed that it was indeed a bus, or some type of mobile transportation. She'd just have to wait and see.   
  
At the time, Laurali was walking with Ginny. She had the feeling that Hermione and Ron were not all that happy with her for taking so much of Harry's time away from them. They weren't used to that. She also understood how it was for your someone to ignore you for someone else.   
  
"So I heard that you met our trouble makers," Ginny said.   
  
"I did indeed. They're quite interesting. The way they are with each other reminds me of some other twins that I know."   
  
"It must be a twin thing then."   
  
"Probably."   
  
"So did they prank you or anything like that?"   
  
Laur laughed then said, "They were quite, charming, I guess you could say."   
  
flashback   
  
"Hullo," a red headed boy greeted Laurali while she was on her way into the Leaky Cauldron. He stepped next to her.   
  
"Hi," Laur responded.   
  
"I'm Fred Weasley," he said, holding out his hand.   
  
"I'm Laurali Richardson," she said, shaking his offered hand.   
  
"And I'm George Weasley," said a red headed boy who was identical to the other, on the other said of Laurali. He also held out his hand.   
  
"Charmed." She shook his hand as well.   
  
"So we hear-" Fred started. "That you're American," George finished.   
  
"And damn proud of it," she said.   
  
"And we're twins," George said, then he looked at his twin and together they said, "And damn proud of it."   
  
The three of them laughed and Laurali said, "Glad to hear it."   
  
"Would you like a piece of candy?" George asked.   
  
"What kind of candy?"   
  
"Yummy candy." Fred said then winked at George. He obviously meant for Laurali not to see this, but he had awful timing this time and Laurali saw.   
  
"As tempting as that sounds, I'm sorry but I'll have to decline your offer." Laurali said, using some of her best acting skills to not laugh.   
  
end flashback   
  
"I'll have to say that this year is going to be interesting," Laur said, once she finished her little flashback from the previous night.   
  
"Yes it shall be. Of course with everything that happened last year and all. I have to admit," Ginny was saying, " that I am surprised that Professor Dumbledore is allowing transfer students, especially at this time."  
  
"Well, I was originally asked to come attend Hogwarts, so maybe that is why I am allowed to come this year." Laur said.  
  
"Then, with all due respect, why didn't you decide to come to Hogwarts until now?"  
  
Laur thought carefully of how she was going to answer this question. "Okay," she said carefully, " I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a witch when they wanted the responses back by. The reason is because I was going through a hard time at home. You see, there was a death in my family right before I got my letter and I wanted to be with my family more than ever."  
  
"I understand," Ginny said sympathetically. "But why did you decide to come now?"  
  
"It's different being a witch in America." Laur started. "There is rarely any pure bloods, and so any magical folk that there is don't really unite with one another. The American witches and wizards lead both lives. Both muggle and magical. So I wasn't exposed to too much magic, only at my school. And even at there, the curriculum is based on both standards; muggle and magical. So, in order for me to decide what I want to be in life, either have a magical or muggle profession, I wanted to experience some real magic, how it is to live as a normal witch. "  
  
"So wait, how much magic you know?" Ginny questioned.  
  
"Oh, I know probably as much as you do," Laur said defensively. "I just don't have as much experience."  
  
"Ahh, gotch," Ginny said, basically finishing their conversation. So in the silence that persued, Laurali thought about how many magical people thought that they knew her father. There was Mrs. Malcolm, owner of the clothing store; a man at the ice cream parlor, and Tom.  
  
Flashback  
  
"So how is your father, Miss Richardson?" Tom asked Laurali.  
  
"My father? He's well," she answered. Then she thought, ' How would Tom know Dad if he is an American muggle?' So she voiced her thought to Tom.  
  
"Excuse me, Tom, but, you know my father?"  
  
"Yes, of course. He used to come here all the time," Tom answered.  
  
"I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken. My father is muggle and as much as I know, he has never lived in Europe."  
  
"Bob Richardson? Isn't he your father?" Tom asked, now extremely confused.  
  
"Yes, but my father is a muggle, Tom. He would have no business here."  
  
"Well, I'm terribly sorry Miss Richardson. I must be thinking of another man with the same name as your father," Tom said, still looking, and feeling confused.  
  
"That's alright. You're not the first who thought the same as you."  
  
"I'm sure. Good luck in Hogwarts Miss Richardson," Tom was saying.  
  
"Thank you, Tom. Take care," Laurali said, still as confused as ever.  
  
End Flashback  
  
As Laurali was thinking all of this, she failed to notice Mrs. Weasley hold out her wand in her left hand. What she did notice was a loud BANG! and a large, triple-decker bus the color of royal purple show up out of no where. Out came a conductor who was sporting a purple uniform, complete with a matching hat. He appeared to know Mrs. Weasley, because he was saying, "Good morning Molly. How many today?"  
  
"Hello Stan, nice to see you. I'll have 7 tickets please." Mrs. Weasley said, greeting the conductor.  
  
"Okay, so that will be 70 sickles, at 10 sickles each. Or, 4 galleons and 2 sickles if you please," Stan said. Laur was thinking about how he would know all of that math instantly, but he must have something to look onto that they weren't seeing.  
  
"While Mrs. Weasley was reaching for the money, Harry stepped forward and paid for them all. Laurali noticed that he didn't look at Stan at all, and tried to hide his face from the conductor in purple.   
  
"Thank you, Harry. But that wasn't necessary,' Mrs. Weasley was saying as soon as everyone's stuff was onboard and the bus started to move.   
  
"Think of it as a favor for all the help that you have given me," Harry said.  
  
Instead of talking to the people that she was with, Laurali was too busy keeping her stuff from moving all over the bus. Stan, or whoever was driving obviously hadn't a clue to keep control of the vehicle. But they never crashed into anything. The objects that they could have hit always moved away, even if it was a stationary object. 'Magic,' Laurali thought, 'is a great thing.'  
  
Their trip on the Knights Bus was surely an experience, one that Laurali hoped never have to experience again soon.  
  
"How did you like the Knight Bus?" Ron asked Laurali as they were pushing their carts towards the entrance of Kings Cross.   
  
"Oh, gawd, it was an experience that I hope I won't have to do again," Laurali said, chuckling. "Is it always like that?"  
  
"Yep, it almost killed me a few years ago," Harry was saying.  
  
"What? Harry, you never told-"Hermione bellowed. Harry put a hand up to stop her from continuing.  
  
"I never told you because it happened right after I saw Snuffles for the first time." Harry explained.  
  
"Oh, but Harry, you should have told us." Ron said.  
  
"Look, you would have just worried even more about me than you need to."   
  
"Snuffles?" Laur asked. The trio all looked at each other nervously. Not noticing her companies' reaction to her question, Laur continued. "It sounds like 'snuggles', the fabric softener moscot bear thing." Laur said giggling. "Ah, well, I don't even think I want to know." Harry, Ron, and Hermione all seemed to be less tense about Snuffles and walked towards the barriers 9 and 10. They showed her how to secretly get onto the platform, without making the muggles suspicious.  
  
"Wow," Laurali said in awe. "That," she said pointing to the scarlet train, "is going to take us to school?"  
  
"Yeah, isn't it great?" Ginny said from behind her. "Have fun on the train Laur, I'm gonna go meet some friends."   
  
"Have fun." Laur said, looking at all the excited children and anxious parents with trunks, owls, and cats. She did notice some people that were about her own age look at her oddly. 'Great, this will be fun' Laur thought just as Harry was leading her to the train.  
  
"C'mon Laur, we have to get a good compartment!" He said all excited. "Then we can go say goodbye to Mrs. Weasley. I think Mr. Weasley will be here too."  
  
"Okay," Laur said in response and followed Harry onto the train and into the farthest compartment. Laurali and Harry both stowed their stuff on the racks with eachother's aid and then went outside to say goodbye to the Weasley's.  
  
A/N: Tell me what you guys think of this chapter! REVIEW! ï 


	17. 16 The Train Ride

AN: My computer was broken again, and now it's fixed! Well, for the most part anyway. It was actually fixed a little while ago, but I was busy. So I am going to try to get the chapters up more quickly from now on. Hey, it might actually happen, that depends on if I get a job or not, we'll see.

Back to my story, I hope that everyone will like what will be going on in the story from now on, and REVIEW! I'm a tad bit disappointed that I only got a few reviews during all the time that I have been gone…

And YAY! The Red Sox are going to the world series!! Yay! Haha, sorry, but that's for my beta-reader, she is _obsessed_ with the Red Sox! For all of those Red Sox fans out there, I hope you enjoy this chapter because I added a little bit of Red Sox pride for you guys!

Chapter 16:The Train Ride

On their way to Hogwarts, a few people stopped by their compartment to say hello. Laurali met Neville again, and was introduced to Lavender and Parvati, two of her roommates.

"So what's Hogwarts like?" Laurali asked when only she, Harry, Ron, and Hermione remained.

"It's the greatest place I've ever been to, and I've been to a lot of places," Hermione answered. "It's the best place in the world!"

"Yeah, you'll love it Laur," Harry said.

"Plus, it's huge so you almost never have to deal with the idiots," Ron said. "But, you get lost a lot, and that's a downer."

"That should be fun. I am the worst person _ever_ with directions." Laur said. " But I like the part of not having to deal with the idiots. And I'll take the castles' size as an advantage- I'll need plenty of time to myself," she added as an after thought.

Silence commenced between the group of four. Hermione left the room, claiming to have a Prefect meeting to go to. A few minutes after Hermione left, Laurali sprung excitedly, and said," You have to teach my some wizarding games, cause I will dominate."

"You wish," Harry said, slowly, " I will totally beat all of your arses."

"Well, me and my _arse_ will just have to make it up to you by whooping your ass."

"Oh, its on now," Harry said.

"Just wait until we play chess Harry, then I'll beat your arse." Ron said, playing along. Harry looked down, as if realizing this was true or not, but when he looked up he had red and yellow and war paint under each eye.

"Bring it," Harry said, using a deep voice.

"So teach me how to play the game that I'll whoop your ass at," Laurali said, and the three of them laughed.

In about an hour, Laurali mastered Exploding Snap, and was infact, whooping Harry and Ron's asses.

"So what now?" Laurali asked, still playing the tough girl.

"I beat Harry's arse at chess," Ron said.

"Cool."

"Do I get a say in this?" Harry grumbled. He obviously didn't like not winning.

"No. Have fun," Laurali said cheerfully. Then she pulled out her cd/mp3 player, and a book. "Oh, and by the way," She said, pulling off one ear phone," I'm going to teach you how to play "Spit" sometime, don't let me forget."

Harry and Ron both had confused looks on their faces on what this game could possibly be, but began to play chess none the less.

During the train ride, while Harry and Ron were playing chess, Laurali fell asleep.

Ron and Harry hissed at each other about the game, the snack-cart lady came in, followed soon by Malfoy and his cronies, and she still didn't wake up, even after Malfoy and Ron got into a shouting match. Harry was starting to get worried whether or not there was something wrong with her. It was like she had passed out or something. Or worse, been given some kind of potion that could put her in a coma. He had tried to wake her up several times, but to no avail, Laurali still slept.

Laurali's Dream

She, Harry, and Ron were in their compartment, just sitting and talking. Then suddenly, the compartment door slammed open and Hermione came in, pissed.

"Chill chica, what's wrong?" Laurali asked after being thoroughly startled.

"What's up Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Malfoy," she answered.

"What about that—" Harry started, but was rudely interrupted by the door opening once again.

Being startled once more, she sat and looked up immediately. A boy with straight, blond hair entered with two ugly, large brutes behind him. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all standing with their wands drawn. She simply hadn't a clue on what to do, should she stand up and fight with her friends over something that she had no idea on? Or should she just sit there quietly?

'Those two look like goons, Laur thought, but the blond one is kind of cute, all he needs to do is smile!' She just couldn't help noticing these things.

"So Potter," the cute one sneered, " have a nice summer? Kill anyone else?"

Harry was held back by Hermione and Ron, but she was free. Her previous question on what to do was answered.

"Who the hell are you to come in and say some fucked up bullshit like that?" She yelled. Despite the fact that she was a new kid, she wasn't going to sit back and let some stupid kid talk shit to her new friends like that. That comment that the cute kid made was just not necessary.

Malfoy had obviously not have noticed Laur before, or forgot all about her somehow because he almost jumped when she first started yelling. Somehow, though, he actually managed to keep his cool.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione asked rather coldly, walking towards him and pointed her wand in his face. He cowered slightly at this.

"Y'know, I do remember being here before, Malfoy," Hermione said.

"I almost forgot all about that," Ron said, "Malfoy, don't you just love running away with fear?"

"At least I don't sleep in a card board box, Weasley," He said.

'Man was this kid a jackass.'

Hermione still had her wand in his face and he was still trying to talk shit.

"Give me a reason to," Hermione said. "One good reason is all I need."

"What do you want, jack ass?" she asked him. "Because, your tryin' to talk shit and it ain't working for ya, so I'd suggest leaving, or turning into a ferret, once again." Laurali let out her American gangster accent to intimidate the kid. "Pick one."

Harry was actually quiet through all of this. 'Why is Harry so quiet?' she thought.

"Well," Malfoy started, " I heard that there was a new kid in this compartment, and so I decided to check it out."

"Yeah, well if you haven't noticed jackass, there's a lot of other new kids here, lookaround_." Laurali said._

Taking a look outside the door, he noticed a group of people, most likely new first years, trying to look on at the fight.

"Or wait, do you want a lovely tail?" Ron asked.

"To go with your white fur and pink eyes?" Hermione asked.

"'Cause it can be arranged," Harry said, speaking for the first time.

"Hermione, you know any lovely little charms?" Laur asked.

"I believe I do."

"Don't forget, mudblood, I'm a prefect," Malfoy said, straightening his robes and standing up taller.

"What a fantastic_ role model you are," Laurali said, and started clapping. Some kids actually joined her._

"How dare you mock me," Malfoy said.

"Yea, I am daring, aren't I?" Laurali said, grinning. "But, you see, I have this problem, and it's you.. So unless you want to turn into a ferret again, get the fuck out." Then she lightly pushed him out the door and slammed it in his face. Turning around, she saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron staring at her, extremely surprised at her actions.

"What?"

"Remind me not to get you mad at me," Harry said.

End dream

Laurali woke up to Harry, Hermione and Ron dressed in their uniforms. The three of them were on one side of the compartment, because, somehow, during her sleep, Laurali sprawled out all over the seats on one side.

"Hey," Laur said groggily. " How long have I been asleep?"

"About 3 hours," Harry said, we tried waking you up, but you wouldn't. So we were a tad bit worried that someone might have poisoned you." To Harry's surprise, Laur laughed.

"I forgot to mention that I'm a heavy sleeper. How much did I miss? And when did I take over this side of the compartment?"

"Well, you missed a ton, and you kind of 'took over' that side of the compartment about 5 minutes after you fell asleep," Ron said. "It was hilarious!" he said, cracking up. " You ended up laying against Harry's shoulder, it was priceless!"

"Oh, sorry Harry." Laur apologized.

" You know he liked it!" Ron said, still laughing.

"Ron?" Harry asked.

"yep?" he managed between snorts.

"Shut up."

"Fine. But you know that you liked it."

"You might want to change Laur, the train stops in about 7 minutes," Hermione said, looking at her watch.

"Oh, thanks," Laur said, standing up and stretching. Her back cracked atleast four times, Harry, Ron and Hermione all winced. "That felt good." Laur said, not noticing their reactions. "Now," she said getting out her uniform. "Where can I change?"

"Right here, don't let us keep you," Ron said smugly. Laur walked up to him and put her right hand on his face and smiled.

"Oh, that's sweet Ron," she said innocently, her hand still on his face, then she him in the back of the head quickly with her other hand. "But get out."

"That hurt!" he whined.

"Can't blame us for trying." Harry said.

"Good for you," Hermione said, pushing the boys out of the compartment before leaving herself.

As she opened the door to let the boys and Hermione back in, there was no one there. Curious as to where the boys and Hermione would be, she walked into a nearby whose door was open. Timidly, she asked,

"Hi, umm, have you seen Harry, Ron or Hermione?" There was a bunch of girls her age there, with robes of red, blue and yellow. The ones with red Laurali had met from before, but had no clue of what there names were. 'No green at least,' she thought.

"Oh, hi Laurali. And no, sorry, we haven't seen them, but you can stay with us," one girl that Laur recognized said. She was wearing red; she was a Gryffindor.

"Thanks a lot. You're Lavender, right?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry, I am awful with names."

"Oh, don't worry about. So these are my friends, they're all from our year too.

"Oh great! Hi!" Laur said.

"Hi," they all said in response. Then they took turns introducing themselves.

"Hannah, from Hufflepuff."

"Susan, from Hufflepuff too."

"Mandy, from Ravenclaw."

"Sally-Anne, also from Ravenclaw."

"Lisa, from Hufflepuff."

"I'm Anne, from Ravenclaw."

"Padma, from Ravenclaw."

"Wow, I'm never going to remember them all," Laur muttered. "So umm, I'm Laur."

"So where are you from?" the one named Anne asked.

"The states. Massachusetts actually," Laur said, rather proudly.

"Cool. So tell me," Mandy said, " the Red Sox or Yankees?"

"What kind of question is that?" Laur asked, almost defended. "The Sox kick ass man."

"Red Sox? Yankees?" Mandy asked.

"Oh, yea, Boston Red Sox," she said excitedly, "and the New York Yankees," she said quietly. " The Sox all the way, no question about it!" Laur added, smiling.

"Right," Anne said, drawing the "ight" part out long. "And what are they?"

"Baseball teams," Laur started, but couldn't finish because the train had stopped. They were at Hogwarts! She needed to find Harry and Ron.

"This was great fun, let's hang out together sometime!" Laur said standing up and leaving.

Walking out of the room and down the hall a little ways, she heard Harry say, "There you are. C'mon, the train's stopped."

"Oh! So _that's_ what its doing?" Laur asked sarcastically. "I never would have guessed!" Smiling, she allowed Harry to lead her outside where she was looking up at a castle. Of course, it was dark now, and she couldn't see much, but by the looks of it, the castle, Hogwarts, was beautiful.

****

Laurali was led to carriages that had no horses, and then up to the main doors. They were at Hogwarts. She was at Hogwarts, she was actually there, and she was going to study magic all the time. That was good, and though she was happy to be there, she was extremely nervous about it at the same time. She was thinking of how life at Hogwarts would actually be when Ron exclaimed, "I can't wait to eat! I'm starving!"

"Oh shut it Ron, you're always hungry," Laurali said, still in awe of all of the beauty around her. But then she noticed something. Hermione wasn't there.

"Where's Hermione?" she asked.

"She went ahead with Neville to get good seats," Harry explained.

' I want to meet all of the first years' Ron said, mimicking Hermione. "She's always doing things like that, she has to do everything right," Ron said, acting annoyed.

Silence pursued, until once again, Ron broke the silence.

"Hey guys?" he asked.

"Yep?" Laur said, still in awe, but now she had to watch where she walking because there was a lot of people around them.

"I'm hungry," he answered. And this time, Laur laughed and patted his arm lightly.

****

"Oh my god!" Laurali said, looking upward once they entered the Great Hall. "Is that the real outdoors?"

"Naw, it's bewitched to look like the sky outside," Hermione answered. They were now all seated together, towards the front of the Great Hall, close to the professors.

"Wouldn't it be so cool to have a slumber party in here?" Laur asked.

"Depends on the circumstances," Harry said. "We had to do it once, on a Halloween night."

"Must have been fun." Laur said. What she didn't notice that Hermione, Ron and Harry were all stiff. "So did you have lots of food and stuff?"

"No, there was an emergency in the castle, so all of the students slept in here for the night," Ron said.

"My guess is that this story is part of the long story you promised to tell me sometime."

"You'll learn all about us Laur," Harry said.

"Us and our adventures," Ron said.

Right then, all of the first years started to walk in, led by a stern looking woman with a floppy looking hat, and all of the students began to quiet down, except for the Weasley twins of course.

"I hope that this doesn't last forever!" Ron complained quietly, "I want to eat!" this last part he said a little bit too loudly, for many people around them shushed him.

AN: Another chapter done! I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, REVIEW! If you didn't, REVIEW! And an explanation of why would be lovely! And then, REVIEW! So, what I'm trying to say is, REVIEW! Have fun everyone! J


	18. 17 The Start of Term

AN: Hey everyone! This is the beta-ed version of chapter 17! Sorry for the long wait, but never fear! Its here now! Well, I sound like a dork, but whatever. Enjoy!

Chapter 17: Start of the Term

People were whispering to each other, looking at all of the first years and the new students. Laurali, though, was nervously looking around, taking it all in; that night, she was the observer. At the front of the room was the teachers' table, with Professor Dumbledore in the center, and many other teachers on either side of him.

Harry must have noticed where Laurali was looking because he whispered to Ron, "Do you see who the new Defense teacher is?"

"No, but maybe Lupin will come in!" Ron responded. Just then, Hermione pointed to the last figure on Dumbledore's right, sitting between a pale, dark haired man, and a plump looking witch.

"Look!" she said, "it must be the wizard between Snape and Sprout!"

"Y'know, he looks familiar," Harry said.

"Yeah, he does," Laurali agreed.

"Maybe you saw him in Diagon Alley during the summer," Hermione said.

'I don't think so,' Laur thought but said, "Yeah, maybe," anyway. Just then, Hermione shushed them because the sorting was beginning. The sorting hat said its peace about the houses, and then the same professor who led the first years into the hall read off a relatively short list of names. First, a small, dark skinned witch came up, and was sorted into Ravenclaw. Next, a small, pale boy with brown hair was sorted into Hufflepuff. The sorting continued for what seemed like an eternity. But by looking at her watch, only fifteen minutes had passed. In the end, there were seven new Slytherin's, ten new Hufflepuff's, eleven Ravenclaw's, and twelve Gryffindor's. Each time a person went to be sorted, Hermione looked like she was trying to match the face to name, and then to what house. She was definitely taking her Prefect roles seriously.

After the sorting, Dumbledore stood up.

"Welcome all!" he said. "It is my pleasure to welcome all of the new students, as well as our returning students, to the year ahead! I am also happy to announce that we have several transfer students joining us this year! Before we begin a wonderfully prepared feast, I would like us all to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. We have with us, Professor O'Connell!"

The students politely clapped for their newest teacher who briefly nodded. He seemed like a fun, descent teacher; they would find out soon enough how nice he actually was. He had short, curly brown hair, and tawny skin, adorned with a few moles, and appeared to be wearing expensive robes.

"Now, let's eat!" Dumbledore said, clapping his hands together. Magically, loads of food appeared on the tables.

"Wow," was all Laurali could say, and started helping herself to some potatoes and a biscuit.

Ron was piling up his plate with a little bit of everything, and shoveling so much food into his mouth that Laur could only look on in disgust.

"Ron, do you think you have enough food?" Laur criticized.

"Hey, I gotta eat," was all he said in his defense. Harry just chuckled and ate just as much as Ron did, but in a more civilized manner.

Hermione, on the other hand, was delicately eating her food and talking to a first year next to her. If she was going to go to this school for the year, at least, she better start to make friends with people other than just Harry, Ron and Hermione. Sure, they were great, but Laur had always liked to have a bunch of friends; that way, life would always be interesting. So what the heck? Laur was gonna join Hermione and talk to the first years.

"Hey," Laur interjected during a lull in their conversation.

"Hi," she said. This "she" was Asian, had shoulder length brown hair, and great big brown eyes. "I'm Xi" (pronounced 'she').

"I'm Laur. So, you're a first year?" Laur asked.

"Well duh," Xi said impatiently. 'Whoa,' thought Laur. 'She's got some attitude. I would never talk to someone older than me like that on my first day of school.' But at the same time, she admired Xi for her spunk. "That's why I had to have a hat on my head for a few seconds, and, I'm sitting with the other first years."

"Well, you never know," Laur said just as impatiently. "Thought I'd see how well you'd respond to stupid questions with obvious answers."

"Uh huh. So where are you from?" Xi asked.

"What makes you think that I'm not from wherever here is?" Laur questioned.

"Well, the fact that you have an accent gives it away, and also the part that you keep looking around at everything like it's the first time you've seen it."

"She's from Massachusetts," Hermione answered for her.

"Yep," Laur said smugly. "I was mentioned in Dumbledore's speech. I'm one of the new-Hey! Who are the other transfer kids?" Laur asked aloud mid sentence.

"I don't know, maybe we'll see them later." Hermione said.

"Sure. Ooh, dessert time!" Laur exclaimed as the dinner plates started to disappear and dessert plates took their places.

Laur immediately grabbed herself a piece of lemon-meringue pie. "Damn, this pie is good," she said, taking a bite.

"Good," Xi said, then turned to the first years next to her.

"Did I do something wrong?" Laur asked in between bites.

"Yeah, you're hogging all the pie!" Ron exclaimed from next to her.

"Oh, sorry kid," Laur said," but I was referring about that girl. Oh! Whatever!" Laur said, and went back to her pie.

While all of this happened, for the first time, Laurali started to feel like she was being watched and heard muttering all around her. Looking up from her now empty plate, Laur realized that people were talking to each other and pointing in Harry's direction. Laur looked over at Harry and thought that, 'well, maybe its because he's famous, and good looking.' But she would soon be proved wrong. Dumbledore stood up a few moments later, as all of the plates and silverware were removed from the tables.

"Now that we are full, I would like to make a few announcements. Once again, welcome new students and Professor O'Connell! But, this is the time where we must have a moment of silence for our fallen student, Cedric Diggory." Again, the attention was shifted to Harry, but this time, the looks were more hostile and accusing. Harry, Laurali noticed, failed to look up at the others faces and just bowed his head down. Soon, more people were bowing their heads in respect for Cedric. At the Hufflepuff table, there were a few girls with tears rolling down their faces and had their arms around the smalls of each other's backs.

"Now, thank you all," Dumbledore began again. "I must ask you all to remember that hard times may be before us, but Hogwarts is the safest place for you all to be. You needn't worry about a thing. On a happier note, Quidditch tryouts will be posted in each common room. Good luck to all of you trying out. Mr. Filch has asked me to remind all of you, for the 462nd time that no magic is permitted in the corridors, and that the list of objects not allowed in school is once again posted on his office door. Now, I believe that this is all for now; good night everybody. Prefects please escort the first years to the common room."

Hermione stood up on a bench and announced, "Gryffindor first years! Follow me!" Then she said to Neville, who was extremely nervous and shaking, "you go in the back Neville, I'll lead us to the common room."

"Rrri-, ahem- right," he said stuttering.

Laurali, Harry, and Ron decided that since Laur was new to school, they'd give her a thorough tour the following day, but for now, they'd show her the way to the common room with Hermione, Neville and the first years. Laur gasped at the moving portraits, and almost freaked out when they were on the stairs.

"Oh my goodness gracious!" she exclaimed when she saw the stairs were moving at different times. "You want me to get on the stairs?" she asked Harry.

"Err, year," he answered. "It's the way to the common room."

"C'mon Laur, the first years did it with no problem," Ron said.

"Good for them," she said stubbornly, "but I'm not good with heights."

"Oh, so that's why you don't like Quidditch," Harry said.

"No, it's just dumb, and the fact that I really don't know all of the rules and actually haven't been to an exciting game."

"Laur, it's getting late. I want to go to bed," Ron said.

"Fine, I'll just close my eyes or something."

"This should be interesting," Ron muttered under his breath.

"What did you say Ron?" Laur said.

"Nothing, let's go."

"Okay," she said after a deep breath, "I'm walking on a moving staircase." When they finally reached the top, she opened her eyes and exhaled deeply.

"Yay! I did it!"

"Congratulations, let's go." Harry said, albeit a little annoyed.

"Yes sir," Laur said with a mock salute.

After some complicated turns and more staircases, they finally reached a dead end with a portrait of a rather fat woman wearing a pink dress.

"Are we lost?" Laur asked.

"No, of course not," Harry said. "This is the Fat Lady, she's the entrance to the Gryffindor common room."

"Oh," Laur said, feeling dumb. "Hi," she said to the Fat Lady.

"Transfiguration," Ron said, before the Fat Lady could say anything, and she opened, revealing, in fact, the Gryffindor common room.

The first years were just walking up the staircases to their rooms, and Hermione and Neville were following them.

"I think I'm gonna like it here," Laur said, plopping in one of the plump, comfortable red couches in front of the fire.

There were other students around her, just looking at her, puzzled, not entirely sure who she was. Thankfully, though, they didn't say anything, and she was able to close her eyes and let her mind wander. She sighed deeply and wondered where she and Harry had seen Professor O'Connell before, since the only place that they've been together was Diagon Alley, and she was positive that that wasn't where she knew the face from.

AN: Another chapter done! I hope you guys liked it. I know that when I originally posted this chapter, it was Thanksgiving, and it must have been the turkey's natural sedatives or something, because I got really upset, and disappointed that not as many people liked my story as I hoped.

The next chapter is long, and will be up soon! Keep reviewing please!

Thanks!

Lauren


	19. 18 A Workout and a Tour

AN: I'm really sorry about taking forever to post this chapter! I've had it done for quite some time, but then I took my time sending it to my beta, Jen. But I am proud to say that I started to revise the earlier chapters. This chapter is my favorite so far, and I'm anxious to see if it really is as good as I think. So let me know! Okay? Thanks!

Disclaimer: I only own Laurali, Danielle, Professor O'Connell, and the plot. The song included is "Music," by Erick Sermon.

To the Reviewers and any other readers:

The main thing that I wanted to say was that I _love_ (sarcasm) that readers have reviewed saying that this story is just like all of the other stories that I have an American girl coming to Hogwarts, and that this is just very much un-original. Well, I can honestly say that I don't know what those other stories are about because I don't read them, and that I hope that by the end of my story, I can prove you wrong, that this isn't such an unoriginal idea.

This is also my first story, ever. I'm not a strong English student, or science for that matter, but that's a different topic. Anyways, so I started writing this story for 2 things. The first was after reading so many great fanfics, I decided to give it a try on my own. The second was to improve my grammar and writing techniques.

****

Doodlepie: I just have to say that you make me want to write even more as soon as I update! I feel really touched, I guess you can say that you seem to enjoy this story so much. So thank you for enjoying my story as much as you do and thanks for reviewing!

This chapter is really beginning the school year between Harry, Laur, Ron, Hermione and all the other kids at Hogwarts. I know, I know, it took a while, but what I really wanted those first chapters to do was introduce you to Laurali, get to know her a little bit, introduce a deeper plot and kick off the school year.

I just have to say that JOHNNY DEPP IS GORGEOUS! Anyone see _Finding Neverland_? Yeah, I stared at him the entire time. :)

Wow, after all of that, I think that we can start the chapter!

From Chapter 17:

"I think I'm gonna like it here," Laur said, taking over one of the plump, comfortable red couches in front of the fire. There was other students around her, just looking at her, like, 'where did she come from?' But they never said a thing, for Laurali just decided to plop out of the couch she was on, and sit in front of the fire, sighing deeply. She was wondering how she and Harry had seen Professor O'Connell before, since the only place that they've been together was Diagon Alley, and that's not where she knew that face from.

**__**

QUESTION TO BE ANSWERED: Would you like to make a summary of the past 10 chapters like I did earlier in the story? Let me know and I'll decide based on your answers.

: Would you like to make a summary of the past 10 chapters like I did earlier in the story? Let me know and I'll decide based on your answers. 

Chapter 18: A Workout and a Tour

It was about ten O'clock when Harry joined Laur on the floor in front of the fireplace after playing chess with Ron for an hour.

"Hey Laur," he said, startling her.

"Oh, hi Harry, what's up?" she replied.

"Nothing really. Y'know its like 10, you've been sitting here for over an hour."

"Oh, really? I didn't notice; I was just thinking."

"'Bout what?"

"That new Professor O'Connell. I can't help but think that I know him from somewhere."

"That's odd, but I kept thinking the same thing. Maybe Hermione's right, perhaps we saw him in Diagon Alley this summer."

"No," Laur said firmly. "I'm certain that I know him from somewhere else. Not by just meeting him in the streets, but like I _truly_ know him, or, at least, knew him."

"I don't know what to tell you, Laur," Harry said softly.

"You don't have to say anything. Just well, could you do something for me? To help me relax a tad?" she asked softly.

"Of course, anything for you."

"Just hold me," she said, almost nervously.

Harry didn't reply; he just put his arm around her and held her.

"Are you sure that there's nothing else bothering you?"

"I'm just worried about the next few days. Y'know, meeting other kids, the teachers, the classes, just all of it. Well that, and that I cant get rid of the feeling that I know O'Connell from somewhere, and that everyone I meet thinks that my Dad is a wizard and lived here once. I just don't like all of this mystery and confusion. It's beginning to stress me out."

"We'll figure it all out," Harry said reassuringly, and Laur laid her head on his shoulder.

"I hope so."

The next day was a Sunday, and Laur woke up early, despite not having gone to sleep until midnight. She wanted to get all of her stress and frustration out, so she did what she always did. She dressed in workout clothes, put on jazz sneakers, grabbed a mat and her CD player and went for a walk.

Of course, she still didn't know her way around the castle, but she didn't care. She walked out of Gryffindor tower, but was sure to stay on the same floor as the Gryffindor Tower entrance with the picture of the Fat Lady. So she kept walking until she found an unused classroom nearby that would be great for what she would use it for. There wasn't many desks or other furniture in the room so she just magically moved all of the furniture to the back of the room in a corner.

Laur put her CD player on a desk that was on the far side of the classroom, and started to play the music. The first track was a soft, relaxing tune, perfect for her usual Yoga and Pilates routine.

Next, she unrolled her mat down on the floor, took off her shoes and started her workout. Midway, she realized that she would need a Medicine ball, and she transfigured a spare book into one.

Now, she actually started her routine. She loved these two exercise programs, so-to-speak, because they helped her relieve stress, clear the mind, and of course, warm up her muscles.

Laur had been gone for about an hour when Hermione woke and found Laurali missing. She wasn't worried until after she had taken a shower, dressed and went down to the Common room. Few people were already up and just lazing on the sofas, but Laur wasn't one of them. Starting to worry, Hermione went up the boys' staircase and into the room that the 5th year boys shared. Noticing Harry almost immediately, Hermione roughly woke him up from a sound sleep.

"What is it?"

"I can't find Laurali," Hermione said urgently.

"What?" Harry said, bolting upright and throwing the sheets and blankets off of him. Luckily for Hermione, Harry was wearing pants, and didn't have to be embarrassed by an almost naked Harry.

Laurali wanted to get tension and frustration out, and the Pilates and yoga excercises were not doing that, so then she put another Cd with fast, dancing songs. These were songs that she had routines for and others that she knew would make fabulous dances with choreography. She picked a fast song that she had a routine for and started dancing.

She had just done a running split combo when she noticed that she had an audience watching her. It was the cute blonde kid from her dream during her nap on the Hogwarts Express train.

"Well, where did you look?" Harry asked, putting on a shirt and robe, and then shoes. Ron got up as well and started to rummage through Harry's trunk.

"Well, just my dorm and the common room, but she doesn't know her way around the castle. She wouldn't have left the tower, would she?"

"Yeah, she would," Ron said, holding none other than the Maurader's Map. "She's in a classroom on this floor."

"What could she be doing?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, but Malfoy's walking towards her."

"What! Let's go!" Harry bellowed.

"You're a good dancer," he said walking towards her.

"Thanks, how long have you been watching me?" she asked embarrassed.

"Not long, I heard the music and wanted to see where it was coming from," he said.

"And what did you find?" she asked.

"A beautiful girl dancing," he said grinning.

"And what do you think that I'm gonna do now?" Laur said, smiling none the less.

"Well, first, I'm gonna say, 'good morning, I'm Draco Malfoy,' and then you'll introduce yourself and shake my hand," he said, holding out his hand.

Laur smiled and said, "I'm Laurali," and then she shook his hand.

"Well, its been lovely talking to you Laurali, but I must leave," he said and walked out of the door.

Laur was confused to what had just happened. This was the guy that Hermione, Harry and Ron had warned her about, and he was very nice, and more than a little charming. But before she was able to be too confused, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just run into the classroom.

"Laur, what are you doing here?" harry asked.

"Well, I worked out, cleared my mind, relaxed and I was even able to dance. How I do it, I will never know," she said, grinning.

"Laur, its only 7 am. Why are you doing all of that here? And why now?" Hermione asked motioning to the room.

"Well, to answer your first question, I woke up, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep so I came here to get my mind off things and workout at the same time. And besides, its Sunday, we don't have classes today."

"So what exactly were you doing?" Ron asked, looking at all of the different things that were around Laur.

"Well, I warmed up by doing simple Pilates and Yoga exercises, and then I kicked it up a notch with dancing some of my old routines. It's one of the only ways that I relax, besides sitting in front of a fire. And I relieved any tension and frustration I had," Laur said, sitting on the ball with her back straight and feet on the floor.

"That's all great Laur," Harry said. " But why was Malfoy here?"

"He said that he heard the music and came to check it out," Laur said. She was met with silence.

"Wait," Laur said after a moment, "how did you know that he was here, and where I was?"

"Ron, let me see the map," Harry said, after closing the door. Ron handed over a piece of old, folded up parchment. Harry then put the tip of his wand on it and said, " I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Instantly, lines started to appear and then Harry handed Laur the piece of paper.

"By this," Harry said. "It's a map of Hogwarts."

"And it shows where everyone is," Hermione added.

"But who are Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?" Laur asked after looking at the front again.

"They are, or were, the Maurauders."

"Or more importantly, Harry's dad and his friends."

"This is great. So, how about my tour?" Laur asked, " we have the map and we'd be able to see if anyone is nearby, right?"

"Right, but its like 7:30 in the morning, and I haven't eaten yet!" Ron said.

"Okay, so go down and eat, I'll bring this stuff back up to the tower and take a quick shower, and then, oh wait, I don't know my way to the Great Hall," Laur said.

"I'll go back with you Laur," Harry said. "I'm not that hungry yet."

"Okay, thanks. So we'll meet you down there," she said to Hermione and Ron.

"Great, let's go Hermione!" Ron said, dragging Hermione with him out of the door. Laur and Harry picked up all of things that Laur had brought with her and went back to the tower.

A half-hour later, Harry and Laur left to meet Hermione and Ron down in the Great Hall. It took Laur only a minute of hesitation before going onto the staircase, less time than the night before. When Harry asked her why she was so frightened of the staircase, she claimed that she wasn't too fond of the idea that it could move while she was trying to get onto it, and therefore, her falling.

When Harry and Laur got to the Great Hall, it was about a quarter full, the rest opting to sleep in. They sat down to see Hermione looking rather disgusted. Ron just kept shoveling food into his mouth, like he hadn't eaten in days.

Harry just sat down next to Ron and took some eggs and bacon, and started to eat. Hermione was already done eating because she had been down there for over a half-hour, waiting for Harry and Laur.

"Ron, do you think that you could be a tad less, er, gross?" Laur asked after observing him for a moment, sitting next to Harry.

He, in response just gave her a glare and continued eating. Laur shrugged at Hermione as if to say, 'sorry, I tried', and then grabbed a bagel and some bacon.

"So, are you going to do that workout often?" Hermione asked Laur as Harry and Ron started talking about Quidditch.

"I hope so, I'll probably do it every Sunday morning, and other days after classes if there's time," Laur said after taking a bite of her bagel. Then she perked up, and asked excitedly, "Hermione, you wanna do the workout with me? It could be fun!"

"Well, I've never done that stuff before," Hermione said.

"I haven't been doing it long either, just a few weeks. It's not hard to learn, I can teach it to you!"

"Well in that case, I'm in," Hermione said, smiling. "Hey, maybe you can teach me how to dance while we're at it."

"Yeah! This is gonna be so much fun!" Laur was in a state of euphoria, she'd have some one to dance with again! And this was a great opportunity to become better friends with Hermione. "Okay, but we're gonna have to find a place where we could leave our stuff so we don't have to bring it with us all of the time."

"I know the perfect place, I'll show you when the boys aren't around," Hermione said smiling.

"Perfect," Laur said and continued eating her breakfast.

"Okay, so Ron, can I have my tour now or do you need to eat another huge meal?" Laur asked sarcastically after all four of them had eaten a thorough breakfast.

"If we must, we must," Ron said and Laur laughed out loud.

"I swear, this girl must be mental or something," Ron quietly said to Harry, but not quiet enough.

"Yeah, I love you too Ron. No it's just that when you said that, I was reminded of my old favorite movie," Laur said, still laughing.

"What movie is that Laur?" Hermione asked as they were walking out of the Great Hall.

"Mary Poppins."

"Ahh," Hermione said, "Good movie. That was one of my favorites, too."

"Okay, so this is The Great Hall Laur, where we all join together to eat," Harry said, starting the tour. "And if you continue on your left, you'll notice two doors…"

In about an hour and a half, Laur was given a full tour of Hogwarts. Hermione pointed out the trick steps on the staircases, and all of the girls' bathrooms, and told her to be careful not to use the toilet on the 2nd floor, for that one was the home of Moaning Myrtle. She was an annoying, insecure witch who died in the bathroom.

For the rest of the day, Laur and Hermione spent the day together talking about classes, and moving into their dorm. Laur thought that it needed a "touch of home".

"I mean, c'mon, we're gonna be here all year long, right? Why not make it seem a bit personal and fun?" Laur said, trying to convince Hermione to stop reading their schoolbooks.

"Fine, but later we're gonna start to make a schedule so we can study," Hermione said.

"Hermione, we haven't even gotten our class schedules yet, we can wait for that later," Laur said reasonably.

"Oh, whatever, lets go to our dorm."

"Allons-y!" Laur said, leading the way upstairs.

Ron, Harry, and the other guys from their dorm, Seamus, Dean and Neville decided to take advantage of the nice weather and play Quidditch. Laur had the pleasure of meeting Dean and Seamus after her tour of the castle.

"It looks f-a-b-o-l-o-u-s," Laur said, singing, as she admired the girls' dorm.

"I must admit, it does look very nice," Hermione said looking around. They had added candles, posters, and pictures of their families and friends all around the room to make it seem more personal. Half way through their work, Lavender and Pravati joined Hermione and Laur, claiming that they too were thinking of changing the room. Then, they all unpacked their clothes in their closets, and bureaus. Laur brought out her muggle CD player and they blared her mixed CD.

"So how is it that we can use that?" Lavender asked Laur pointing to the CD player.

"Well, once I realized that I wouldn't be able to use electricity or batteries here, I grabbed my best friend Danielle with me to go to our Diagon Alley, I guess you could call it. I asked one of the shopkeepers there to help me make it so that I could use my stereo here. There was no way that I would be able to live without my music. "

"That was a great idea!" Pravati exclaimed. "Why didn't we think of that?" she asked, turning to Lavender.

"I don't know," Lavender said. "Maybe we could get a TV up here too!"

"I asked about that," Laur interrupted. "The guy at the shop thought that it would be a miracle if the CD player worked. He thinks that the wiring of the TV is much more difficult than a CD player, or something. But Hermione, maybe the prefects could plan a movie day or something. Y'know, we could have a muggle day or something!"

"That's a great idea!" Hermione said. "I'll bring it up at the next meeting, but I don't think that the Slytherin's are gonna like it."

"Oh, screw them. They wouldn't have to participate," Lavender said.

"This year is going to be awesome," Pravati said. "It's good that you're here Laur,"

"So who are we listening to?" Hermione asked.

"Well, this is a mix of artists, but right now, we're listening to Eric Sermon, 'Music'," Laur explained.

"I like it," Hermione said, smiling.

"I'm glad." Then Laur started singing,

"Just like music  
Music is the soul of the man  
Music makes a happy day  
And music makes the clouds go by baby  
Your music keeps my tears inside my eyes  
(Just like music)"

The four girls continued listening to music, and talking, until their bodies alerted them that it was dinnertime. Their stomachs started growling, they decided to head down to the Great Hall for dinner.

Hermione and Laur sat with Harry and Ron, while Lavender and Pravati sat with Seamus and Dean.

Laur couldn't help but glancing over to the Slytherin table, casually, she hoped, looking for Draco.

Then, all of a sudden, she turned to Harry. "Harry," she whispered, poking him in the side, "I think I know where I know him from!"

Harry turned to Laur very quickly.

"Wait, what?" he asked, confused.

"I think I know how I know O'Connell," Laur repeated. "And some other information as well."

AN: Wow! I think that this is my longest chapter yet. I almost put half of chapter 19 in here as well, but then that came to be 15 pages on Word and I felt that that was way too long. Wow. Well, of course there was a long AN, but it was just something that I really wanted to say. I am happy to say that I really enjoyed writing this chapter! Well, I've also been in a _great_ mood lately, we don't know why, I guess I just am. Anyways, thanks for reading and don't forget to review! Remember, constructive criticism is great, just no flames s'il vous plait! If I get encouraged enough, maybe you can expect chapter 19 up sooner than usual!

Wow! I think that this is my longest chapter yet. I almost put half of chapter 19 in here as well, but then that came to be 15 pages on Word and I felt that that was way too long. Wow. Well, of course there was a long AN, but it was just something that I really wanted to say. I am happy to say that I really enjoyed writing this chapter! Well, I've also been in a mood lately, we don't know why, I guess I just am. Anyways, thanks for reading and don't forget to review! Remember, constructive criticism is great, just no flames s'il vous plait! If I get encouraged enough, maybe you can expect chapter 19 up sooner than usual! 

Thanks! Lauren


	20. 19 When pigs fly

Chapter 19: When Pigs Fly

Harry turned to Laur very quickly.

"Wait, what?" he asked, confused.

"I think I know how I know O'Connell," Laur repeated. "And some other information as well."

"What do you mean Laur?" Harry asked more eagerly.

"I think that I know where I know him from. I figured it out today when I was re-decorating our room."

"How did 're-decorating' help you remember how you know Professor O'Connell?"

"Because at the time, I was looking in my photo album. So, there I was, looking at a picture of Mom, Dad, and me when I was a baby, and my dad's friend who looks _alot_ like O'Connell. I don't think that it's not a coincidence."

"But Laur, that doesn't really make sense."

"Yes it does. Look, I've been thinking about this a lot, since last night. So many people in Diagon Alley claim to have known my dad, although he is a muggle. But since I've seen that picture with the man who looks like O'Connell, so I'm starting to think that my dad is keeping secrets from me."

"Like…?"

"That he is a wizard, from England, and that he and O'Connell are, or at least were, friends," Laur said quickly.

"Do you really think that your dad could have lied to you about something that important? That he's a wizard?" Hermione asked, joining the conversation.

"Well, I'd like to think not, but this is what it looks like, doesn't it? I mean, c'mon, why would I have been accepted here when I live in America? None of my friends from my old school got accepted, what makes me so special?"

"Look, why don't you just write home and ask your parents what's going on," Harry said reasonably.

"I want to know. No, I _need _to know the truth. It's gonna bother me for the longest time if I don't know soon. It's going to drive me crazy."

"So write them a letter, and in the mean time, talk to Dumbledore. But right now, dinner's about over, and everyone's starting to leave," Hermione said. Looking around, they realized she was right; there weren't that many people around. Some that were lingering were talking to friends from other houses. In other words, just a few other Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws.

"Laur, why don't you show us the picture?" Ron asked, participating in the conversation for the first time.

"Ahh, good plan Ron. Well then, allons!" Laur said, standing up and leaving. The other three followed in her wake.

"Laur, when are you ever going to get used to the staircases?" Hermione asked as they walked into Gryffindor tower.

"When pigs fly," she answered sarcastically. The four of them sat down at a table.

"You know, that day could be very soon," Fred replied coming up to them with George beside him.

"Might even be today," George said. "After dinner mint anyone?" he asked innocently, offering them candies.

"Who would be dumb enough to try candy from you?" Ron asked.

"Obviously they are," Harry said, pointing to some small pigs hovering in the air.

"Are you kidding me?" Laur asked, laughing. "That's hilarious!"

"Who are they?" Hermione asked.

"Our most faithful guinea-pigs," Fred answered, smiling.

"How can you do this?" Hermione yelled. The common room started to get quieter as Hermione's voice began to rise.

"Do what?" George asked.

"Test out your stupid products out on poor first and second years!" Hermione bellowed.

"Look, Hermione, before you get all huffy at us, they offered," Fred explained.

"So, Laur, how's that picture doing?" Harry asked before Hermione could say anything else.

"I don't know, why don't I go get it and we can talk about that thing we talked about earlier?" Laur said.

"Hey Laur?" Ron asked.

"Yeah?"

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"I said guess!"

"Fine. Hermione stopped flipping out?"

"No, as you can see, she is still 'flipping out'. Guess again."

"I watched Mary Poppins?"

"No. Guess again."

"Hell froze over?'

"No, getting warmer."

As if realization hit, she put her hand over her mouth and then yelled out, "Pig's flew!"

"YES!" Then she and Ron shared a laugh.

A few minutes later, Hermione had calmed down, Laur had gotten her picture album, and the four of them went up to the Boys dorm to figure things out.

"Here it is." Laur handed Harry the picture that depicted her, her mom, Samantha, her dad, Bob, and the man that looked like O'Connell.

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, almost dropping the picture.

"Doesn't he really look like O'Connell?" Laur asked.

"Yea, but that's not it! Your mother is in one of my pictures!" Harry said, walking over to his trunk.

"What are you talking about Harry?" Laur asked. "My mom is muggle, my dad's the wizard."

"Or they're both magical," Hermione said, standing over Harry's shoulder, looking at both pictures, examining them.

The picture that Harry brought out was a picture of Lily and her friends from Hogwarts. In both pictures was a woman with soft brown hair and a great big smile.

"What the hell is going on?" Laur whispered.

"We'll figure it out Laur," Hermione reassured. "But it's getting late, and we have classes tomorrow."

"Laur, I'll come with you to Dumbledore tomorrow," Harry said. "I want to know what all of this means, because in your picture, that's a picture of Godric Hollow; the neighborhood that I lived when I was a baby."

"So are you saying Harry, that we knew each other when we were babies?"

"It's possible," he whispered.

"I'm going to bed," Laur said, storming out of the room.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione soon followed suit.

At breakfast the next day, Laur was rather quiet and playing with her breakfast. Hermione, Ron, and Harry knew why, but her change in attitude was evident to even Lavender and Pravati.

"Laur, are you alright?" Lavender asked, spreading some jam on her toast.

"A-whattah?" Laur responded, not sure she was being spoken to. "Oh, yeah, I'm just nervous about classes and all."

"Well cheer up, we don't have Potions today!" Pravati said looking over her timetable.

At that moment, Harry handed Laur her timetable. Laur said, "But we have two periods of Transfiguration bright and early."

"How cheerful you are this morning," Ron teased.

"Shut up," Laur said a bit harshly. "You would be too under the circumstances," she added quietly.

"Have you written them a letter yet?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I sent it while I was waiting for you down in the common room."

"Wait, what?" Ron asked, his mouth full of food.

"I decided to send my letters by floo so my poor Sonata won't get too exhausted from continuous trips back and forth. I bought floo powder in Diagon Alley so I just 'firetalk' or whatever to whoever is in the room and then Sonata picks up the letters and brings them to Danielle or my parents. I was really hoping to see Danielle, but she wasn't there, only a girl that I didn't really like."

"I see."

"So what else do we have today?" Harry asked.

"I have a study period, and Herbology," Laur said. "Your schedule is probably a bit different."

"Why do you have a study?" Hermione asked.

"So I can read up on history material," Laur said, "and take the OWL's this June. Dumbledore said that instead of having two electives, I would have a study in which I would have to study all those Goblin Rebellions and crap so I can catch up to you. And then I have history with you guys, too."

"How does he know that you're doing work?"

"He's going to give me a test at the end of each month."

"It's time to go to class," Hermione said, taking a last sip of her drink.

"Let's get this over with," Laur said, getting up as well.

During Transfiguration and Herbology, Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout talked a great deal about the importance of the OWL's and how important it was to study hard and do all of the required work. In Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall started by reviewing the basics they'd been learning since first year.

After Herbology was Laur's study period where she basically just wandered around, trying to find the Library following Hermione's directions and thinking back to her tour. Hermione had Arithmacy and Harry and Ron had Divination.

Laur took another wrong turn and walked right into Professor O'Connell.

"I'm so sorry, excuse me," she said, backing up so she wasn't five inches from him.

"Excuse me, Miss Richardson," he said at the same time.

But Laur heard him and couldn't help but saying, "How do you know my name? We haven't had class yet."

"Professor Dumbledore asked me to come find you," he said. "He would like to talk to you about something."

"Okay," she answered nervously and followed him to Dumbledore's office. They stopped in front of a stone gargoyle, and he said, "gum drops", and the gargoyle moved, presenting a staircase. Laur hesitated walking onto the staircase, and O'Connell, noticing her tension, said, "shall we?" and started walking onto the staircase. Laur followed and soon found herself spiraling up to an open door, with Professor Dumbledore, and to her surprise, her parents, Bob and Samantha Richardson.

AN: ooooh. a cliff hanger!what is Bob and Samantha doing at Hogwarts if they are muggles? I've been trying to write Chapter 20, and its been really difficult, so review, let me know what you think, and perhaps it will be up soon!


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